Too many socks!

my socks

I'm your average girl who loves clothes and shoes but this picture of socks really got me thinking. If you look at my "regular clothes" and my workout clothes I think you'd be surprised.

I have a closet filled with all regular stuff, shoes, jeans, dresses....just the normal stuff. Then I have a big dresser filled with only my workout clothes. I'm pretty sure the workout clothes out number the regular clothes by far!

Which brings me to the socks. The first drawer consists of socks and unmentionables(that word always cracks me up). I have tons of socks, mostly little ankle socks for running and exercising. But lets be clear. Not the ankle socks that give you cankles! I'm very picky about my socks. They have to be thin and should barley be seen inside the shoe. Anyway, it never fails that when I go get a pair this is what I see(picture). There is never a match......EVER! What happens to them?!?!

Drawer #2, Workout pants. I'm a little embarrassed to admit this but I counted just my black workout pants. I have 22 pair of them! That's not counting running shorts, sweatpants or other colors....just black pants. But do you think I can just grab a pair and slip them on? NOPE. I have to find my favorite ones that I wear all the time.

If you have known me for awhile you know I'm obsessed with sweat pants...I always have been. My mom finally got me in a pair of non-sweatpants in 6th grade. I live in them but once again I'm very picky. My favorite sweatpants are abercrombie. I've had a love affair with them since highschool(my birthday is next month). If you were to meet my mom and sister you would see that they also live in sweatpants. I'm always complimenting others on their sweats not their boots which I also love! The only time I'm not in sweats is church. I do have other clothes. I love people's reactions when they see me out of my workout clothes. Yes, I do dry my hair, wash my face, put makeup on and I even wear perfume....I have other smells than sweat.

Drawer # 3, workout shirts and t-shirts. I'm total opposite of a hoarder but for some reason I can't get rid of old t-shirts. I have 2 shirts in that drawer that are like 15 years old. Do I wear them? No!.....well maybe sometimes. hmmmmm, is that gross? Out of probably 50 shirts of all shapes, sizes and colors I only wear a handful of them. It usually ends up being the cheap wal-mart tanks that I put on. What is my problem? Am I the only one? It takes my like 10 minutes to get dressed by the time I go through all 3 drawers.

Yet, if you go shopping with me guess where you'll find me. looking for workout clothes.

Testing my limits

Some of you know I've been dealing with knee pain for the past few months. It came on slowly then started to get really bad. It hurt in the back of my knee only when running and lunging which I do a lot of! It started at about 3 miles and continued long after I was done running. I was not happy considering the 1/2 marathon I was training for.
I was referred to Elite Physical Therapy in Rehoboth. The Dr. Ordered 3-4 visits for 4-6 weeks. My first visit consisted of elbows digging into my butt and IT band. Fingers poking in my vertebrae, being stretched all kinds of ways with bands and then being hooked up to electrodes. They told me I was horribly tight and inflamed. Duh!!!I was then given a deep tissue massage with bamboo sticks. I was sore the next day to say the least.
They soon realized it was all coming from my back. Strange because I have never in my life had any kind of back pain(except when I was 55 lbs overweight with pregnancies). Specifically L3......I think. Anyway they dug so hard into that one spot in so many different ways. They had me run on a treadmill in only my sports bra.....did not love that one! They wanted to see my gait, which was fine. Then they poked me some more, made me run again, poked me some more, made me run again-even I was tired of working out.

The next day I had no pain! Yay!!!!

That was 3 weeks ago. I went today which was supposed to be my last visit. The Doc told me I had 30 visits left that would be covered by my insurance but I had to use them by the end of the year. So she told me to try to get the pain in my knee by pushing the limits. I wasn't expecting that! I had decided I wasn't going to run the 1/2 on Dec. 10 but now I'm not sure. I've only done one 7 miler in the past 2 months so I don't feel prepared at all.

And I'm not the kind of person to just "have fun" in a race. It's called a race for a reason.

So....tomorrow I'm going to get up around 5am and get on the treadmill until the sun comes up and then head outside to finish. Normally Wednesday is my day off but I guess not tomorrow. I have an appointment on Thursday and I'd like to tell her I tried to kill myself in the process of trying to recreate my knee pain. All the while hoping I DON'T recreate it. Hmmmmmm

Wish me luck!

Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

These cookies disappeared within minutes and they are very healthy. Vegan, natural and no white stuff! I'm going to give you the recipe I received and then my own twist on them.

To make them gluten free just switch up the flour. I think coconut flour would be good but I didn't have any.

1 cup butter                             1 cup coconut butter
1 cup sugar                              1 cup sucanat or organic brown sugar or maple sugar flakes
1 egg beaten  flax paste           I also added 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1/2 allspice
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 pack milk chocolate chips   80% or higher dark chocolate bar chopped into pieces.

For flax meal I add water to 1/4 cup of ground flax seeds and mix. It makes a pastes that replaces the egg in any baking recipe.


Preheat oven to 375. Cream softened butter and sugar. Add egg or flax, pumpkin, vanilla, and mix well. Sift dry ingredients and add to wet mixture. Add chocolate. Drop on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 min.

Even my meat, dairy, and junk food loving husband liked them! Thanks for the recipe Elaine!!

Good Eats!

I wanted to share some of my new favorite recipes with you.  Don't make fun until you try them!

These are kale chips! Lucy and I love them, Cross and Trey like them and Ethan....well I won't tell you what he says:) All you do it cut up kale and saute them for a few minutes in coconut oil. Place them in the oven at 350 until crunchy. Then add sea salt and black pepper. Yummy!

kale chips

roasted butternut squash and garlic soup.

Chop up a butternut squash and place it on a tray along with garlic cloves. Sprinkle it with salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, sucanat and olive oil. Bake at 400 until soft. While waiting on the squash saute carrots, celery and onion with coconut oil. Add the squash and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk. Blend it all together until smooth. I like to sprinkle it with chia or pumpkin seeds to add protein. I add some kind of nut or seed to everything these days. If you workout and want to build muscle without meat this is a must!

peanut kelp noodles


These are my all time favorite....the kids love them too because they taste like peanut butter.  Soak the kelp noodles with water and lemon juice. On very low heat mix brown rice miso, almond butter, little tahini, sesame oil and bragg's amino liquiod. Then add noodles and stir to combine ingredients. I like to add sesame seeds to up the iron....Ironmom's need iron:)

Gluten free pasta and bread. Coconut ice cream and oil. And mint chocolate water.


So my friend Brian called me out on my Ezekiel bread from my last food post. Yes it has gluten! I'm not a purist and I'm not giving up Ezekiel bread thank you very much. But I do love this rice bread.


The water has chocolate "essence" so there is not junk in it. I LOOOOve this stuff.


The ice cream speaks for itself. Coconut + vanilla=so delicious...hence the brand name.


I would love to hear about your clean recipe's! Especially the ones your kids love!

Thankful Thanksgiving

I started off Thanksgiving day with my bootcamp crew. We had 36 show up to get yelled at by Joy and I......mostly Joy.

Warming up!

My two favorite bootcampers, Quinn and Phill. 

The "yeller and the teller". I tell on people if they are wimping out and Joy then Joy comes over and yells since I'm not so good at that.

This is my favorite picture of the morning. Poor Eric is getting yelled at. She looks mean but we all know she's really a softie at heart.

Moving on to lunch with some good friends. No this is not healthy, I just thought the hearts were cute.

I know I need a camera....these picture are not that great.  Here are some more of my favorite people. My dad is there in the corner. I'm so glad he made the long drive from Ohio to come for Thanksgiving. We love you dad!

These friends gave us Ravens tickets for Thanksgiving night. What a great game with great friends!

So mad that Ray was injured and didn't play. I've been to two games and he has been injured for both. grrrrrr

Go Ravens!

I love my mini Ray! He is so little and fast. I love to watch him.


I am so thankful for this day.... ..and everyday. I have so many people in my life in my life to be thankful for so I just wanted to share a few. God has blessed me in so many ways I can't begin to count. Don't forget to give to give thanks!!

Homeschool myths busted

I know, I know my blog is supposed to have a "niche". But it doesn't, sorry. I just write about anything that pops into me head.

I like to watch the TLC show 19 kids and counting.  Ethan makes fun of it like crazy but I love the Duggars! Yes, they may be a little weird and yes they are about to have baby #20. I love the show because it's the only show on that's clean. They stand for so much of what I believe.

But it made me start thinking about homeschooling. Is this what most people think about homeschool families?

Before we had Trey I said I was NOT going to homeschool. There were so many reasons that I didn't want to do it. I am horrible at math, I am not creative, I wanted some me time, and I only have associates degree. Good enough reasons for me.

Then Trey came along........and I started to see it differently. It wasn't really until he started to reach the kindergarten age that I started wanting to homeschool.

Some friends gave me some advice that has stuck with me and really helped make the decision.
1. You have to be totally convicted or it won't work.
2. Don't put pressure on yourself to be perfect.....just take it year by year.
3. You can't put a baby plant out in the sun and walk away. It won't survive. Just like a child that is sent out into the world. It needs to be nurtured.

We've been homeschooling for 3 years now and we love it....especially Trey. Don't get me wrong, I have my days that I want to rip my hair out but for the most part it's great. I don't know maybe in a few years when I'm teaching all 3......I may not be so great. I just take it day by day and year by year.

Back to the Duggars! I want to clear some things up about homeschool....break some myths. Here we go.
MYTH: All homeschool families can sing and play instruments.
FACT: If you believe that then you haven't heard me sing. Maybe one day my kids will be into that but for now there is no way the Magee's will be putting on any kind of performance.

MYTH: We sew our own clothes.
FACT: If you know me your laughing right now. I can barley sew a button on.

MYTH: We don't believe in birth control....it's a sin.
FACT: NOT TRUE! Although I do think Mrs. Duggar does better with 20 kids than I do with my 3 there is no way that is ever happening. I think we are happy with 3. Show me in the Bible where it says that birth control is sin.....hmmm....it doesn't.

MYTH: homeschool families are weird.
FACT: You obviously haven't met my family. We are so cool! At least we think we are?

MYTH: Public school is a sin.
FACT: No way! In fact our kids will probably be in public school when the time is right.

MYTH: Homeschool kids are not socialized.
FACT: My kids can be be shy but are definitely socialized. We don't sit at home all day you know. They are involved in lots of other activities.

MYTH: Homeschool families are religious fanatics.
FACT: Yes, our faith has everything much to do with how we raise our kids but that's not the case with all families. All different kinds of parents are deciding to homeschool for so many reasons other than faith.

So these are a just a few things I had clear up. I love talking about homeschool so feel free to ask me anything! Check out 19 kids and counting and see for yourselves why I love them. They are obviously not as cool as my family but a great show.

As for now I just pray A LOT during my day as a homeschool mom and take it day by day..........

Northeast Triathalon

 Last summer my friend Jenn told me she signed up for her first Triathlon and asked if I wanted to do it with her. I had no bike and didn't know how to really swim so of course I said yes.

I got a single swim lesson and bike and I was already hooked.

I love Ethan for so many reasons... this is a picture of just one of the reasons. It rained horribly the day of the tri. This is Ethan putting my bike on the rack at about 5 am. He fell down the hotel steps doing this for me. Don't worry, my bike was not harmed.

This is me, Jenn and our awesome friend Susan who came to cheer us on.  She is also a triathlete.  We love you Susan!

If your not happy with your age don't do a triathlon.

Yep, this is what we swam in. 

I'm one of those yellow caps out there.   

Just getting out the water and heading to my bike.

This picture says it all.....what the heck am I doing?

I didn't kill myself or anyone on my bike and am now heading out for the run.

It's not the best feeling when you get of your bike and have to run. My legs wouldn't move.

I remember seeing this sign toward the end of the run. Thanks Susan!

I passed this guy right at the end. Yay me!!!!

We finished! This is another friend Meghan in the purple(sorry it's of your back). I've made so many fun tri-friends! 

Cheryl, Tara and Jenn. The rain finally stopped after hours and hours.  Did I mention the fact that Jenn couldn't swim at all just a few weeks before this? Your a rockstar Jenn!

What a great way to end my first triathlon! I had a goal of just finishing without freaking out or getting dq'd in the swim. I placed 5th in my age group and became addicted. I love triathlons first of all because the people are just plain awesome. Also, I don't have to be really good at one thing.... I can be just alright at all 3. Works out perfect for me.