What Would Jen Do

Rob Lowe is one of those guys that’s aged very well.

Very well.

He’ll be 48 this March.

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My Answers:

1. Nothing is better than being alive.

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2. I _take__my _shoes off at work and leave them__ in a pile under my desk and put on slippers___but never  walk around work in my slippers.  Anymore.  Apparently IT’S FROWNED UPON IN THAT ESTABLISHMENT____

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3. Those _people__ that are always _complaining about things but never doing anything to change them__ make me want to _punch them in the face.  __________

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4. My favorite _time of day__ is when _it’s just me and the Mojo sitting on the couch in the morning before the sun comes up__.

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1. Do you swim in the winter?

I don’t even swim in the summer

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I’m working from home today!!   I am so excited.  Even tho I got to sleep in an extra hour today I was pretty much up at my regular time, raring to go. Every time I don’t need to get up and get ready for work I wake up earlier and easier than when I do have to get up and get ready.

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Did you watch American Horror Story?  That show was kind of effed up.  I didn’t even really like the first two episodes but I KEPT WATCHING and then it got pretty good.  But I didn’t like the season finale at all.  And even tho I didn’t like it, I can’t wait for the new season because I’ve got some questions.

The leading man is Dylan McDermott, he’s on the left here.  He looks a lot like Ross Geller doesn’t he?  (on the right)  Don’t worry, I won’t show you David Schwimmer shirtless.

Dylan is 50 you guys.  FIFTY YEARS OLD. now normally I’m showing you guys who could basically be my kid or who are  in their 20′s I have even shown a few in their 30′s.   He’s got quite a few of those guys beat.

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This week’s statements:

1. I used to enjoy going out every night untl 3am_ but now I don’t really anymore except for when I_am going somewhere I really want to go and can be home by 9pm. ___

2. My first job was technically a babysitter but my first real go apply for it job was a cashier at a thrift store. ___

3. I am a bit obsessed with _food__ at the moment   I am having a very hungry week. 

4. If I don’t have my pillows_ at night, I don’t sleep well.  I am very pillow picky. 

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Last night I just could not stay asleep, I woke up about every hour.  Around 4am I just got up because it was more annoying to lay there trying to sleep.    I have never been a good sleeper.

There is also nothing on TV at 4am.   So instead I have been looking up enchilada recipes and finally decided on one.  I guess we’ll be having enchiladas this weekend.  Lately I have been ravenous, everything sounds good. I think that maybe my new workout routine is making me a hungry hungry hippo.  This weekend I’ll be doing lots of cooking.

Speaking of workouts, yesterday I went up 5lbs each on three of my weighted exercises and busted those out like it was no big deal.  Sometimes I have a very good day where everything works out for me and I’ve eaten enough and my energy level is good, so doing the weights is easy.  And then I also have days where i’m tired, distracted and didn’t eat right so lifting is hard.    I always make sure to make a note of how hard or easy a work out was for me so that when I have a day where I think I can’t lift it, I look back at my notes and see that two days ago I considered it ‘easy’.   That’s usually enough to push me thru it.

It’s a long weekend and as of right now I have 0 plans. This is my first weekend since November,  i think, that I have been totally 100% free.  I do have a massage tomorrow but so far that’s it! I am so excited to finally get some time for me.

So on to shirtless Friday

Last weekend I watched  Dylan Dog Dead of Night and the lead was Brandon Routh

You may recognize him from Superman.  Or just from being cute.

one thing I noticed about this guy is that he’s big. tall and broad shouldered but I don’t know if everyone else in the movie was just shorter and slimmer and made him look big.   I guess superman would HAVE to be all big and stuff!

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This week’s statements:

1. I have never eaten _pate.  I’d probably try it if presented with good pate.__

2. I like to lay around the house_ in _pajamas. I am not a fan of real clothes. As soon as I get home pajamas go on.__

3. If I could go back and change one thing, it would be _my wedding dress. It was fine from the waist up. But that’s what you get for wearing a $35 wedding dress, right? (this is the only ‘change’ i’m willing to admit to)_.

not my favorite picture but it shows the dress in full length.  what you cannot see is my HUGE bloated stomach under my flowers and how my saddlebags decided they were going to be bloated as well.

4. My greatest _wish__ for my _self_ is _to live a happy life._____.

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1.   The last thing I ate was   coffee flavored Nips.  i love these so much that yes I do buy the 12 pack from amazon.

I got to work from home today!!! I have so missed working from home!!!

to celebrate I thought I’d do a little day in the life of me working at home

Warning: Picture heavy

I got to sleep until 5:30!!  Normally I am up around 4:30 for work.

I got the day started with a cup of coffee

I played some facebook games (on the left) while watching the news and logging into work (the right)

My helper joined me.

Hard at work and finally the sun is up

Breakfast time.  two courses.   Turkey bacon and eggs and oatmeal.  Oatmeal is courtesy of the husband. This is a pretty big weekday breakfast for me.   But it also stops me from snacking.

Someone wants me to stop working.

Around 10 I needed a break so I sectioned out some meat from costco for freezing.

in order to suck all the air out of the plastic baggie I hold it under water.  I close all but about one inch on the end of the baggie and hold it out of the water, and this is where the air gets forced out. This works just as well and is faster than using those air sucker outter of bags things.

Still wanted a break so I got the coffee ready for the next day and broiled some pineapple and bacon sausages to take to work for a couple of breakfasts this week (work out days)

I also put away some clean clothes that I washed yesterday and wiped down all the kitchen counters.  But who wants to see that???

And then back to work.  I still have one dog staring at me willing me to stop working and please scratch him.

12:00.  Time for lunch

Leftovers from Lolo’s  This was a totally indulgent lunch, but I HAD to eat these leftovers right?

took some vitamins

Multi-v, Vit’s E, b-12 and C. And a Resveratrol

2:30 off work and time to Workout

Phase 1 = 22 min on the treadmill 3.6 mph and a 6% incline.  We’re watching Bones now.

Phase 2 = weighted squats, bench press and dead lifts.  I work out with weights in my garage, it’s not pretty but it gets the job done.  Next time I’m going up 5lbs in weight for each of these exercises.

Bath time.  That’s a glass of water and white wine spritzer there on the tub ledge.  And on the laptop we’re watching Supernatural Season 6.

Normally this is where I’d do some cleaning but since I was home all day doing small things, the house is already clean.  So I fed the dogs (yes that is steak and don’t worry they don’t finish their whole dinners), packed breakfast and lunch (hard boiled egg for breakfast, will have oatmeal at work, steak and corn for lunch), read some of my book for about 15 min (zombie novel) and sort of watched some TV  (law and order the original)

Then I made the bed, picked out an outfit for work, filled the humidifier in the bedroom, played with the dogs and started writing this entry.  no pictures of any of that.

6:30 time for dinner. It’s hamburger night!  We almost always have roasted brussel sprouts with our hamburgers.

After dinner we watched Man, Woman Wild and then I went up to bed just before 8.  I got a little extra time today since I didn’t have to spend an hour driving to and from work.   And it was really nice not waking up at 4:30am and getting ready for work.

Back in the day (pre being a supervisor) I worked from home two days a week and it was HEAVEN. I was the very first assistant to work from home. I was part of the pilot program, so for about a year I was the only one that got to work from home.   When I became a supervisor I had to give it up and it was horrrrible.   After working from home for over 2 years to suddenly having to go back into the office 5 days a week was a shocker.   I had a real hard time adjusting to the work schedule not to mention the extra driving.  I have a fairly long commute which eats up time and gas and is very annoying.

Yesterday my boss told me the supers are approved to work from home one day per week starting next week. Since I’ve done this before I’m ready to go, I know I can easily do this.    I picked Thursday as my work from home day and as soon as I picked that day, BAM three mandatory meetings on the next three Thursdays pop up! UGH!!  Fortunately for me, my boss said to just switch days those weeks.  I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!  I really hope that this becomes a permanent thing.

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Last week I had Paul Wesley AKA Stefan Salvatore.    This week we have Ian Somerhalder AKA Damon Salvatore.  The evil vampire brother.

look into those eyes

gah, he sure is pretty.   Like actually pretty.

And most definitely looks good in a suit.

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This week’s statements:

1. _the ability to put up with other peoples stupid shit_ is not my strongest virtue

2. _dinner is my favorite meal of the day I love me a good dinner

3. _the bathtub___ is my favorite place to relax___

4. Whenever stupid shit at work_ happens, I always tell my work wife.

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Everyone is talking about their new years resolutions for working out, so I thought I’d post my workouts.  I have two; an A and B workout.  Each workout targets specific muscles so you aren’t working out the same things over and over.   I used to work out Tues and Thurs with a slightly different version of my A and B but then added in a third day that changed things up.  Now I’m Mon-Wed-Fri.  With almost no exceptions.  I have to be sick or seriously too busy or dying.   I even work out now on my days off.  (today)

All of my workouts start with 22 min on the treadmill at 3.6 mph and 6 incline.  22 minutes because that is half of an ‘hour’ long show on DVD.  I used to do the full 44-45 min but that would fatigue my legs too much.

I pick a TV show on netflix view it now and watch half.  I also only watch this TV show while working out so I associate it with that. I just finished the last season of Lie To Me, so now I need to pick a new show.

I also used to do a 3×8 routine which means three sets of 8 reps.  I am moving to a 5×5 routine, that’s supposed to help build strength, starting today.

Workout A 

This is my hardest workout, after this one I reward myself with a long hot bath, a tv show and a white wine spritzer.

barbell squat

I started out with no bar, then added the bar (35 lbs) and then gradually added weight.   now on a 5×5 routine.

bench press

I started with 3lb weights in each hand and then finally got up to a total of 20lbs each hand (40lbs total) before deciding to move on to the barbell.  (35lbs) and then added weight.   5×5

dead lift

I started this one out with the bar (35lbs) and then gradually added weight.  You only do one set of five of these.

work out B

body weight squat

I recently added this one in.  First I started with half squats which is what she is doing here.   Once I was able to do 2 sets of 50 I decided to move on to full squats which means that the backs of your thighs needs to touch your calves.    I am doing 2 sets of 30 full squats now.

overhead press

I started this one with 3lbs dumb bells and then finally made it up to using the bar!  This is my weakest exercise.   I started the 5×5 of this one today and am definitely going to be adding another 5lbs soon.

horizontal pull up (inverted row)

I am working my way up to  a single pull up. I started with door frame pulls ups.   Which means you stand there and hold the door frame and pull your body to the frame using only your arms.  well  that was easy so i decided to try the horizontal pull.  Depending on your angle, that’s not so easy.  I do 2 sets of 20 of these.    When it gets too easy  I change the angle.

And then I punch the heavy bag for 3 min, I just started this one too since I got the fancy pink gloves for christmas.

heavy bag

I know it looks like a lot and you’re probably wondering why I don’t look like those girls.  I definitely don’t push myself as hard as I could and I was pretty out of shape when I started.  Doing a couple of squats left me in pain for days and I could barely lift 10lb weights over my head once.   But I’m definitely a lot stronger now, my endurance has gone up and I don’t ever get sore anymore.  At least not sore enough so that I spend days not being able to move.  I’ve been doing this for a little over a year now and when things start to get stale I change it up.    Hence the 5×5 and heavy bag work.

One of the reasons I like weight lifting so much is that there are sets you finish and I like to complete things.  If whatever weight you are lifting is so heavy that you cannot finish your sets, you just keep working on it and eventually you WILL be able to finish them.   It feels good to accomplish that.

It’s a Salvatore brother!!!

Paul Wesley AKA Stefan Salvatore. The first time I remember seeing him on TV was on 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.  Remember that John Ritter show?  Man, did I cry when he died!

ANYWAY!  This one is super hard to find with his shirt off.

This picture makes me feel a little pervy.

He’s also not easy to find in a suit, this guy in real life is just as mysterious as the vampire he plays on TV.

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This week’s statements:

1. Lately, I have been feeling  a little_depressy.  What, that’s a word!_

2. I am usually a ­­­­_little short on patience, but most people tend to think I have the patience of a saint, especially here at work. I am just really good at masking my annoyance_

3. _A worn out body_is always the best feeling at the end of the day. Provided that worn out feeling comes from working out or doing something really fun.

4. _Hitting snooze__is the first thing I do in the morning if it’s a workday.  If not I get some coffee.  

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I wrote this one year ago but as it turns out the whole entry is still valid today.

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM

What Would Jen do and her hubs

and her Mojo

And her Voodoo

I can’t have a fire today because it’s a no burn day, so here is one from last two years ago.

um, yes that is a tiny toilet down there, it’s actually a dog water bowl but mojo broke it.

I got these guys to sing happy birthday to you, I hope you like it.