Tag Archives: Peanut Butter Fingers

Personality Puzzle

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It’s 6pm on a Monday night, so you know what that means: we made it through the first day of the week, and I’m in my pajamas and I’ve hit my productivity level for the day.

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One thing that has been plaguing me for the week or so that I’ve been “back to bloggin,” is that I’m not really sure I have identified and stayed true to the purpose for which I began this blog.  Ok, so it was never really that clearly defined, but at least I felt as though I was accomplishing something in the beginning, even if it was something to keep my busy instead of snacking.  I consider myself to be a well-read blogger, and I have a few heroes:

What is it that I admire about these bloggers and their digital offspring?

  1. Writing Style – they’re all extremely engaging, creative, and keep my attention long enough for me to want to invest my few minutes of free time on a nightly basis while trying to ignore the ESPN commentary that fill my post-dinner living room air.
  2. Personality – You can really gain a sense of whom each of the authors are.  I know who are my loving life and upbeat gals are, and which bloggers to turn to when I need someone to share in my snarky take on mundane, daily life.  I also know who can inspire me to get my tush off the couch and make it to the gym every morning, and some of their own workout routines that I take along with me.
  3. A focus – Each blog has a distinct purpose and I can rely on that to stay consistent as I scroll through their photos and gifs.
  4. Entertainment – I can Wikipedia the hell out of a topic, but you’re getting the essential information.  In and out; no muss, no fuss.  No fun.  I don’t want to read the same information in the same format that I can find on any ol website, and these guys and gals know how to produce the pizzaz.

So how do I plan on putting these attributes to work in my own blog?  Well that’s the million dollar question that I am asking myself.

Blogger Inventory:

  • What is your purpose for writing?

In English, we talk about three different author’s purposes:  to persuade, to entertain, to inform.

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So what is my purpose?  I could go the “Inform” route and focus on education.  I am a certified English teacher, but I feel far from experienced enough in the classroom to tell anybody what they should and should not be doing.  I could also change the purpose of my blog to entertain, but I am a total niche sense of humor gal.  Not everyone understands what I find funny.

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  • What is your blog’s focus?/What type of blog do you want to produce?

I am a floundering blogger right now because I don’t know which direction is shore, so to speak.  I haven’t been consistent in blogging because I am not sure which direction I want to pilot this publication pot.  I have a few ideas here;  I want to stop being a trifecta of topics because it’s way too confusing, mostly for me.  Here are my options: Classroom/Education, Books, or Exercise.  There can be some overlap of course, but I want one main topic.  I am leaning towards Classroom/Education with a side focus of Books.  Quite honestly, those are the real bread and butter topics that consume my life.

  • What is your blogging voice/tone?

I can only be myself, which is someone who is brutally honest about my opinions, and sometimes they come off as a playful teasing all the way to snide.  I don’t want to be mean, but I do want to be genuine.  When something is exciting and pleasing to me, I want that to come across as legit and not pretentious.

Whatever I am, whatever I do, I want to be the best.  Even if “Best” is defined as “doing better tomorrow than today.”

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So what does this mean?   When all the goop has been cleaned off the walls and all the scraps of papers with scribbles have been uncrumpled and rammed through the shredder, I know that I am an educator at the core of my soul.  Therefore, from this point forward, Fancy Oatmeal shall be known as an emerging educational blog with a twist of book bloggery.

Something New and Something Old

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Morning Workout

3 miles @ 24:14 – avg 8’05″ per mile

+ 14Day Abs Challenge & Sexy Leg Workout

I could not be more bright-eyed, and my tail could not be bushier this morning.  Why? I finally caught up on all that sleep I’ve been bitching about lately.  After I filled my tummy with chicken stir fry last night, I felt my eyelids begin to add on the pounds.

“What the H?” I thought to myself.  ”It’s only 6:00pm.  I know I’m an oddball for getting up so early, but this is ridiculous!”

Dear Hubby was watching the NCAA Championship game between the Kentucky Wild Cats and Kansas Jayhawks, so there was no real reason for me to stick around the living.  The same rule I apply for children goes for sporting events: “If it ain’t mine, it ain’t cute.”

Granted, exceptions can be made, but the minute that bodily functions become involved, it’s YOUR kid and I’m out.

Anyways, I decided to go lay down in the bedroom and catchup on some “Celebrity Apprentice” since the executives at NBC find it necessary to turn forty-five minutes of arable footage into three hours!  I believe the last time I looked at a clock it was maybe 6:35pm.  I slept through until my alarm went off this morning.  And that my dears is the story of how I officially became an old lady.

Wise words, indeed.

Because I was so full of pep this morning, I decided to take a cue from one of my favorite bloggers, Julie @ Peanut Butter Fingers, and create my own Workout page on the blog.  I broke down the page into two categories: My Daily Workout and Strength Training.  You can check them both out here, or at the top of the page.

Who Needs a Trainer When I’ve Got Pinterest?

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I was trying to be a responsible blogger last night by setting up a blog for Tuesday morning.  Well Tuesday brought a heavy dose of running/stuffy nose, sore throat, massive headache, and a sick day for me.  But, please to enjoy this blog anyways; I’ll be on the couch drinking fluids and hitting the Tylenol Cold.

Morning Workout: 5 miles @

January Ripper Workout – same as my Saturday workout

I found my January Ripper Workout from Pinterest – if you haven’t joined this site, you’ve got to put it on your 2012 Goals List ASAP!

I’m a cardio junkie.  Before I started running before my wedding in the summer of 2010, my gym machine of choice was the elliptical runner.  I have owned two different machines in the past, and there was a time that I thought I would always own one.  I love cardio with a passion, as long as it’s not a Bob Harper cardio DVD – sorry my love.

Anyways, I know that a taut body cannot live on cardio alone, but JEEEEEEZE I hate doing weights or strength training.  It’s not that I hate the “pain” that my body goes through with each maneuver; it’s that I hate having to take the time to concentrate on one thing.  If I’m running on my treadmill, I have my iPad in front of me allowing me access to read other blogs or ebooks, check email, or even watch a rerun of Cheers on Netflix.  When doing backward lunges with a side twist, I can’t do anything else but concentrate on that movement.  A.D.D. Anyone????

But I can handle a 25 minute workout if it’s already been planned out for me.  Enter Pinterest!  Remember when I was asked to help a friend get ready entering the running world?  I was going to email her a few of the workouts that I found/follow on Pinterest, but why not share them with all of you?

Below you’ll find a handful of the workouts that I have thrown into my weekly routine to keep things interesting and new.  If you click on the workout, you’ll be taken the Pinterest side for the person from whom I pinned the workout from.

This tabata workout is actually from the lovely Lindsey at In Sweetness and in Health.  I made a pin out of it on my Pinterest page.

Yet another Amanda-made pin – the original workout is via Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers.

And you WILL shake!!

I have yet to do this workout with 100 reps; the most I’ve worked up to is 50 for each set.

This last one is a great set of stretches that I try to do after I get done running.  It’s almost double as difficult for me to get in an effective stretching session than a weights workout.

I hope that there was a workout in this pack that gets you fired up – and when I say, “you” I mean your muscles.