All posts by R.C. Liley

I'm an ex-mutual fund accountant who left the cubicle world to be a stay-at-home dad to my beautiful little girl, Avery, who entered our life on 11/15/13 and handsome little boy, Wes, who joined our family on 11/19/17. Also happily married to my wife, Kelley, as of 8/17/07. Sorry ladies... :) Fitness and nutrition is of the utmost importance in our family and we strive to reflect this in our daily life. I always prepare our meals at home and only go out if it's a special occasion, and even then I tend to not get much. Food should be fun and a joy to eat, not something quickly consumed from a fast food chain or scarf down before the next meeting. I have come from strictly logging high miles to train for the next marathon to keeping exercise varied and focusing more on strength. I still enjoy going for a run when I can, but nothing crazy, and I prefer hill sprints while pushing my daughter, Avery in the stroller. She loves it and I get a great workout! I want to show the world how to appreciate their body and feed it real, wholesome food while moving more throughout the day. In doing so, everyone would be healthier, happier, and we'd all live in a better place as a result. I blog mainly about my life as a stay-at-home dad and frequently include reviews, participate in campaigns, and share my thoughts on fitness and nutrition. If you ever have any questions or thoughts to share, please reach out as I'm always open to listening or helping others however possible. That is, when I have free time since Avery is and my wife are the number one priorities!

Food, Going Healthy, NuttZo, Soft Star Shoes, WIAW

WIAW #9: Don’t Eat With Your Eyes!

04/29/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

You know the saying, “You eat with your eyes first”? I’m lucky my wife and daughter either don’t practice this quote, or simply don’t look at what I make sometimes because some things just look straight up gross.

See?

But it usually tastes great and is always healthy! I mean, I try to make some dishes look good for Going Mom. Like the presentation on this chicken tortilla soup looks delicious and she agreed it was.

Unfortunately, since most of my meals are one-pot collaborations of loads of veggies, some healthy fats, and protein, they usually don’t do much to please the eyes. Even when they are miniaturized for the little belly in the house.

Hey, it’s not easy cooking several meals for three every day. Then again, as a stay-at-home dad, I don’t need to complain, it should just be part of what I do. No fast food or going out to eat means more for me to make, but I’m happy with that since it means a healthier family. And most of the time my ugly meals still taste good. Love that slow-cooker!

So, as I share with you my day of eats, I only ask that you DO NOT eat with your eyes ~~first~~ at all! Please?

Now, how about a little WIAW action! Thanks as always to the wonderful Jenn from Peas and Crayons, for creating this fun link-up for foodies everywhere!

Breakfast – I followed my typical fasting protocol and just had some Homemade Cold Brew Coffee as I fed this smiling girl some microwave chocolate bread with NuttZo.

Lunch – Steamed beets, kale, carrots, and broccoli topped with eggs and nutritional yeast. Also had a couple of Beanitos chips for a tasty crunch.

Before Dinner – Green protein smoothie with whole apples, kale, carrots, and spirulina.

Dinner – Dad’s specialty, another crock-pot perfection! Wild antelope steaks (thanks to my brother, Uncle Preston) in a stew of organic mixed veggies, corn, and beans. See, not the best thing to look at, but trust me, it was a delight to eat!

Snack – I’ve been making a lot of variations of my microwave breads and had way more than necessary of this chocolate version. #noguilt

Do you eat with your eyes first or can you overlook the ugly dish if taste prevails?

Seriously, what can’t you make in the slow-cooker?

Ever try any kind of wild game like antelope?

Life

Zombie Therapy at the Gun Range

04/28/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

After cleaning everything up from our NuttZo tasting party, Going Mom and I were going to leave Avery with G-Ma so we could go to a nearby gun range. Unfortunately, my wife wasn’t feeling well and needed to rest instead.

I almost decided not to go after tearing our house apart for the boxes of ammo I know we have, but figured I could use a little shooting therapy. Besides, I could buy ammo at the store on the range anyway. It’s expensive, but if I ever find my other ammo, we’ll be well stocked for the pending zombie apocalypse!

We’ve watched enough of The Walking Dead, to know that it’s better to be safe than sorry, so I’m thinking it’s time to get my concealed carry permit. The best place to get your permit to be ready for the zombies is at https://gunlawsuits.org/gun-laws/maryland/concealed-carry/. And hey, the gun range was even selling zombie targets, so why not get a little practice in? I think the zombie kind of looks like Obama, but not sure. What do you think?

With me, I brought a .243 rifle, semi-auto .45 Colt ACP, long barrel .45 Smith & Wesson revolver, and a little semi-auto Colt .22. Of course I had to share my “therapy session” on social media because…blogging.

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Of the three handguns I brought, the revolver is my favorite. It’s accurate, less chance of a malfunction, and just looks damn good.

I’ve been around guns and hunting my entire life, so don’t think I’m just some crazy guy who has guns for no good reason. Hunting hasn’t happened in years, but I am wanting to make a trip to go deer hunting and provide my family with wild meat for us to eat. Hey, I rhymed!

The range I went to was outdoors and had an area for handguns as well as for rifles. I had to make many trips back and forth to my car, but made use of both areas since I had both guns. First, I went through rounds with each of my handguns.

That smaller target with a body profile and two red circles was mine. I only used the .45’s for practice since, lets be honest, there’s no way in hell I’d depend on a .22 to defend my sweet wife and daughter should the need arise. It was only 25 yards, but I feel pretty good about my aim with both the revolver and semi-auto.

Zombies (and real life threats), beware, I apparently take no prisoners! Feeling good with the handguns, I moved on to the .243. I just got this gun back from my ex-step-dad (long story) thanks to my mom and little brother, so it’s been a while since I used it.

This rifle has killed several deer back in my hunting days, so I was hoping the scope was still sighted in correctly. Well, you can hope in one hand and crap in the other and you usually only end up with a lot of crap. Luckily, I refrained from the latter since the scope was not totally up to par.

While two of the shots might of maimed a zombie, they do not instill enough confidence in me. Plus, I was aiming at the forehead, so I have some scope adjusting to do.

The gun range is a great places to “blow off” some steam as long as you are well aware on how to handle a gun. I hope to bring my wife back out there sometime just to get her more comfortable around firearms and be able to use them if she ever needs to. Hopefully never though!

With the price of admission and for ammo, going to the range is probably on par with a therapy session anyway, but I’d much rather shoot things than sit on a chair and talk. I came home with my targets to show my mom (G-Ma), Kelley, and Avery. They just said the zombie looked like Obama; go figure.

Do you or have you used guns before?

Have you ever hunted?

How do you feel about owning firearms?

NuttZo, Parenting, Promo

Our ‘Going’ NuttZo Tasting Party!

04/27/2015 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

You taste a lot of deliciously healthy varieties of NuttZo, obviously! This weekend, the Going Family hosted a NuttZo tasting party for our neighborhood to delight the taste buds of both kids and adults.

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My party hosting skills could use some work, but I was pretty pleased with my layout. One lucky neighbor was going to be randomly drawn to win their own jar of the Smooth Original NuttZo and I was creative enough to use an empty NuttZo jar for the drawing. Going Mom made fun of me for putting a red bow on the prize jar, but I thought it was a nice touch. What do you think?

People starting showing up and although I was excited to share the edible happiness of NuttZo, I was still a little nervous. Big thanks to my wife for helping to keep the mood light.

For days, I was driving myself crazy trying to think of elaborate recipes to create for the party, but thankfully my wife kept me in check and told me to keep it simple. Duh. It is a tasting party for a product, not a cook-off, so simple it was! But that didn’t stop me from taking things seriously, just look at that intense face of concentration!

Each attendee received a colorful bowl in which I scooped several varieties of NuttZo one at time for them to try. I offered an organic honey almond granola for as a topping for that extra crunch.

There were three NuttZo flavors for tasting; the Smooth Original, Crunchy Power Fuel (my favorite), and Crunchy 70% Dark Chocolate. G-Ma was excited to try them all with Avery!

As if it was even a question, yes, there were seconds…..and thirds.

Avery, our little NuttZo pro, probably had the most out of everyone combined! She can’t say no to NuttZo!

As you can see, Going Mom enjoyed her samples too. Oh man, she’s “Going” to kill me when she sees I posted this pic!

Overall, I’d say NuttZo was well received by our neighbors. Although, one little girl, Zoey, seemed hesitant about the 7 organic nut and seed butter spread, but her dad said she’s not a big fan of peanut butter in general.

She’s a sweet girl, so I didn’t pressure her too much. Plus, I applaud her efforts at trying to hide her feelings with a cute smirk and referring to me as “Mr. R.C.”.

The brand new jars were all severely depleted, as they should be, after the tasting party neared an end.

We only had one thing left to do, pick a winner for the NuttZo jar giveaway! Drum rollllll….

Congrats to Jason, and his two little girls, Natalie (pictured) and Zoey! His wife, Jennifer, had to work, but I know the entire family is excited. I handed out coupons to everyone and Jason said he was excited to pick up another jar to have a work for a healthy snack.

Skip the chips and keep a jar of NuttZo and spoon around for a healthy snack. You can eat a whole bag of chips and still feel hungry, and it’s easy to add up to 500 calories of processed food fast! But NuttZo, full of healthy omega fatty acids, protein, and deliciousness, will keep you satisfied after just 2 spoonfuls. What more do you need?

I’d like to thank everyone who attended, my wife for helping out so much with hosting and cleaning around the house, and of course, the entire NuttZo team for providing the jars for tasting as well as the giveaway. I’m honored to be an ambassador for such a great company, and love that they are big supporters of Project Left Behind which helps small orphanages around the world.

On behalf of our Going Family (rocking our personal NuttZo shirts), we appreciate everyone for their support and for sharing the #NuttZoLove! Now go try some NuttZo and #LLYMI! That’s “Live Like You Mean It” in case you didn’t know. 😉

P.S.: If you’re questioning the higher price of NuttZo, here’s a good article that might help you feel better about skipping 2 trips to Starbucks and grab a jar of NuttZo instead.