L- 7 days

Today calls for a bulleted list:

•THE REUNION IS NEXT WEEK
•A week of late meetings, deadlines and rainy weather     
•Foul moods do not make for a productive clean-eating, shredding week
•On Wednesday morning I built myself a carb pyramid, it was one of THOSE weeks.
•Wednesday afternoon I threw most of the carb pyramid in the trash.
•Wednesday evening I couldn’t eat I was so miserable.
•I had only a protein shake for dinner.
•Thursday I was back on track and managed to get in a run and Shred.
•My body thanked me for the exercise and clean food intake by allowing my energy levels to come back and my sinuses to drain less.
•I brought my oldest to work with me today, this is the first time he has seen my work. We’ve had a lot of fun seeing “space stuff”.
•He doesn’t understand the significance now but I hope he will appreciate that he had this experience.
•My youngest is turning 2 tomorrow.
•Where does time go?
•I FAILED on all of my goals for the week.
•I’m not concerned, I’m wearing size 8’s right now and I’m very happy with my progress thus far.
•My fit initiative will not end at L-0 days as I have not reached my goal weight.
•Breathing deeply.
•One day at a time.
•My goal for the week is only one…enjoy every minute of every day.

Have a great weekend.

L-2 Weeks

Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was starting out with 15 weeks to go? Sure feels like it. But man…I sure don’t look like I did 15 weeks ago. No worries…pictures will be posted shortly after “launch” (the reunion).

Remember in my last post I said to indulge a little? Well…this chicka didn’t waste any time with “a little”. Let’s put it this way…there was some significant damage done by a certain someone to a lemon cooler cake from Costco. It was divine and I have not one regret. On Monday night when I ate my last GYNORMOUS piece...with a BIG OLE glass of skim milk, I went to bed miserable…freakin miserable. Sure the temp in the house was left warmer than normal but I was blaming it all on the cake and my body going…WHAT…THE…HECK! Needless to say I didn’t and still do not have a need to eat cake for a while.

I didn’t work out the entire holiday weekend either…I was kinda bummed about that so I pushed myself to complete my workouts this week.

I ran Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday, I went to change clothes at our gym and a big ole thunder clap sent me back to my car then on to the house in case the weather was clear on my side of town. No joy. I could have done the elliptical but I didn’t. I’ll make up for it on Saturday to get my fourth run for the week in.

Last Friday I graduated to level 2 on the 30 Day Shred. Oh good grief! Jillian loves her plank moves. I like it because it is challenging and different than level one. I can see definition in my legs…from all the squats…and my arms…especially my shoulders. For 20 minutes coupled with a 3 mile run it’s a perfect routine for me.

This weekend we have our first T-Ball meeting to form teams then 2 nights a week during the week will be filled with practice and games. Thinking about it…the month of June is going to be non-stop. My youngest turns 2 on the 12th, pre-reunion party on the 18th, reunion on the 19th, Father’s Day – 20th, Family vacation to California 23rd-29th, my oldest turns 6 on the 26th. Not to mention babies randomly being born...I better start a list.

Food has remained on track since Tuesday, although I did something I’ve never done before…I ate cauliflower and enjoyed it! We had two heads of cauliflower in the fridge so I decided to roast it and it goes like this:

Oven – 425

Chop the cauliflower and place in a baking dish, drizzle a bit of olive/sesame oil, throw in a bit of soy sauce, garlic and sesame seeds and bake for 40 minutes, stirring about halfway through. YUM-O-LICIOUS! I even ate the left over’s. AND I DON’T do raw cauliflower.

Recap of week 2 goals:
•12oz of water with every meal - FAIL
•Shred every day of the week - FAIL
•Limit carbs to 1 a day, before 3 – with only two weeks to go I’m going hard core. – FAIL

That was a big check mark in the FAIL column. Holidays...humprh...Let’s try again.

Goals for week 1:
•12oz of water with every meal
•Shred every day of the week
•Eat Clean everyday

Those are totally manageable.

I’m out to get my run in then shred. Have a great weekend.

Out!

L-3 Weeks

This week was a very good week. Today will be all about bulleted list…caust that’s how I roll.

Workouts:
•Shredded 5 times this week (week being Sat-Fri) – Advanced from level 1 to level 2 on Friday. I’ll let you know how that went on Monday.
•Ran 3 times this week (Mon, Tues, Fri), I would have liked to have gotten in a run on Thursday but I was fully booked.

Meals:
•I am very happy to report that I stayed on task with my meals all week. No cheating, no bad cravings and I feel great.

Here is what I primarily eat during the week:
•Breakfast
o ½ cup of old fashion oats
o 1 tsp of walnuts
o 1 scoop of Elite vanilla whey protein powder
o 1 pkt of Stevia
o Berry of my choice (this week it was blueberries)
•Mid morning snack
o I must say this week I skipped it mostly…oatmeal keeps me pretty full most of the morning
o If I am hungry I’ll eat edamame or a protein bar
•Lunch (my hubby calls this a freak sandwich)
o All natural oven-roasted Turkey breast deli meat (or ½ of a chicken breast or a salmon patti)
o A wedge of Laughing Cow
o Sandwich Flat (100 calories)
o ½ of red bell pepper
o ½ Luna Bar for dessert
•Afternoon snack
o Other half of the Luna bar
OR
o Beef Jerky
OR
o Protein bar
OR
o Protein shake (when Jodie doesn’t eat all of the ice…sheesh…pregnant women) ;)
•Dinner
o 3oz salmon or ahi tuna filet
o Broccoli
OR
o ½ chicken breast
o Broccoli
OR
o Breakfast for dinner...(my fav)
 Egg whites
 Morningstar Sausage patty
 Ezekiel bread
•Evening snack
o Protein cake (hubby calls this one “freak cake”)
 1 scoop of Dessert protein powder – I have chocolate coconut now…heavenly
 ¼ tsp Baking powder
 1 TBL All natural applesauce
 1 pkt Stevia
 1 egg white
 Mix in a wide, deep cup and cook in microwave for 1:30 sec and you have yourself a nice little protein cake…that is almost as good as the real thing.
 The texture depends a lot on the protein powder you use…I’ve used several diff ones and the best results have been with the Dessert powder…just sayin.

Long and drawn out I know but I thought I should lay out what I’m stuffing in my pie hole.

I put on a size 10 capri’s on this morning and I need a belt to hold them up. It’s way awesome. Operation closet clean up is commencing tonight!

If you haven’t heard STS-132 landed yesterday…it was picture perfect…no really…here is a shot one of my colleagues’ took as she was there to witness landing…if she wasn’t so nice I would tell her she sucked. (I’m just jealous)



I am working on a separate post of all things STS-132 to commemorate my experience.

My oldest bestie (since we were 8 and 9) is coming into town this weekend and a bunch of us are meeting for a little din and shenanigans…I’m way excited. She was in town back in November and we hung out a bit. At one point in our friendship we didn’t talk for ten years. It’s crazy to think there is a reason you connect with someone and more than words can articulate…that reason is for them to be your lifelong friend.

I’ve managed to accumulate several “to do’s” for today so I better get to it.

The crew comes in at Ellington this afternoon and 4 and I’m planning on attending, I’ve never made an effort before, it seems that my opportunities are numbered so I’m going to give it a go.

Before I do…let’s discuss goals:

Recap of goals for week 3:
•12oz of water with every meal– with the exception of 1 or 2 so not EVERY (but doing better) - FAIL
•Shred every day of the week – All but 2 but still not EVERY day - FAIL
•Follow a clean eating meal plan without any deviations – WIN

Note: I’m not a black and white person…I’m about all kinds of shades of gray so even though technically I FAILED I still look at them as wins because I’m doing WAY better.

Goals for week 2: (gonna see some repeats)
•12oz of water with every meal
•Shred every day of the week
•Limit carbs to 1 a day, before 3 – with only two weeks to go I’m going hard core.

Wow…that was wicked long but I apparently had a lot I wanted to say.

It’s a holiday weekend…have FUN, indulge a little, be safe and I’ll catch you on the flip side of May!

Professional Maturity

Look at me…I’m blogging way early in the week. I told you my schedule would free up. Not that I’m without stuff to do …I have stuff but I’m not really motivated to do any of it.

I am happy to report I am on day 8 of the 30 Day Shred. I’ve even been getting up at 4:30ish…ok…5 in the AM to get my shred on and then I’m able to run after work. It seems to be working out just fine…this week.

Speaking of running…last week I was struggling to run in the heat and looking back there was a combo of things…fueling properly, my lightening quick (faster than I should be going to sustain a consistent) pace and I blamed it all on the heat.

Since I have been struggling with the runs I decided that running during my lunch hour would help alleviate the heat excuse. On Monday, I had a couple of meetings and headed back to my desk to make sure I was good before I headed out when low and behold I had some work to do…and I had a choice…I could go run and do what needed to be done when I got back…but who knew how long it would take and I needed everyone in their brother to review the pitch and the reviewers are on a one hour earlier time zone OR…wait and run after work.

I made the professionally mature (I love that term) decision, stayed and did what I need to do, missing my opportunity to run in cooler temps.

At 4 I go out to the trails and I start out on my 3 mile run/walk and I’m feeling good, really good in fact. I get to the 1.5 turnaround and I’m still feeling strong. I am now attempting to figure out why it is that I’m feeling this strong after a week of struggling and things start to add up.

I ate properly, didn’t miss any meals and I drank my water. I’ve been shredding and I would like to think that had something to do with feeling stronger and then I noticed the lack of my shadow on the ground. YES! There was a cloud following me and not in a dismal, rainy kind of way. A cloud, that shaded me from the death rays of the sun, a glorious cloud that when the wind kicked up made everything a smidge cooler. I swear that cloud followed me from start to finish and kept the temps at least 5 degrees cooler. And I must also mention I intentionally kept a much slower pace than last week.

It could be a mere coincidence but I’m going to think of it as a reward for making a responsible decision earlier in the day.

L-9 and L-8 Weeks

EEEk…I’m so behind. Whatev, not gonna dwell on it. I’ll sum up the last two weeks…FRUSTRATING!! Net loss is .5 with a total loss of 7.8. URGH! I STILL haven’t gotten to wear my new outfit. BUT…I’ve lost (glass half full baby!)

So…my scale and I are NOT friends anymore. It’s not you…it’s me. We need some space, a trial separation if you will. That’s all I can offer right now. How about we meet up again on June 1st and see if we can salvage this thing…deal!

The numbers are stagnant I’m starting to play mental games by over thinking, adding unnecessary pressure and rationalizing ways to get the numbers down and then I’m a big o ball of stress and really think about giving up. (This is so much harder than it used to be…Getting old sucks!)

As frustrating as it is watching the scale go back and forth 1-2 lbs I am noticing changes in all the right places AND some wrong places too…by the way…If you happen to come across my boobs please tell them I miss them and they are welcome to come back but the extra lbs are not welcome.

My scale is the target of my wrath but it doesn’t feed me or work out for me…I am responsible and suck it up WAYNE…I need to manage my time better to allow myself to workout. Food wise…although I’m eating the right stuff…I’m thinking portion sizes are doing me in and with 8 weeks to go I am really…for reals cutting back my cheat day to a single cheat meal (I think I said that a few weeks ago but I never followed through). According to my scale I am staying on track throughout the week and losing quite nicely then on Saturday, my cheat day, I eat whatever I want…gain 5 lbs and spend the rest of the week taking it off. NOPE!

Jodie convinced me to start running again and oh how I’ve missed thee. I’m starting slow as to not injure myself…not getting younger and one wrong twist and my back is out for a month…did I mention getting old sucks!! I’m doing the C25K program to get me back up to speed…HA! (Did you see what I did there?) It’s been a perfect start, distance wise I go about 3 miles with 1:1.5 intervals. I’ve done that for a couple of weeks and I’m ready to move to 3:1. I find myself almost sprinting (well…sprinting in my book) with the 1:1.5 intervals and I would like to take the training wheels off…perhaps just one wheel and see where I stand.

For those toe grippers out there…I’m WAY BAD. My first run I didn’t have my toe condoms on and holy sore pointer toes…is there a name for your second toe next to your big toe? Ok, so they are not toe condoms they are Digital Caps and you can find them at any Walgreens or CVS. I use these and I seriously cannot run without them. When I was training for my ½ marathon I lost a toenail before I realized what was going on. I thought it was because my shoes were too small…NOPE…I’m a gripper.



It looks like we are California bound the end of June! WOOT! My hubby’s fam lives in San Diego and although the reunion spurred my motivation to get fit again, Cali is now my motivation to work harder…there are BEACHES in San Diego and lots of FIT people and I have summer dresses that desperately need to be displayed on a FIT body…MY FIT BODY.

Last year we went to visit the fam and the hubby and I took a side trip to Vegas and let’s just say I wasn’t in the best shape. HA! (Understatement) Some of those pictures are just gross and I’m not up for a repeat this year.

My pre-flight work for STS-132 is slowing down and time will again be on my side…barring any unforeseen incidents…who am I kidding there are always incidents.

I’ve had a great experience with this crew. They are a fun group of guys and they have really made my job incredibly easy. May 14th is the last shuttle launch of Atlantis. To show you how fun they are…check out their flight poster. Yeah…that’s right…the Juice Box baby! If you blow up the pix I'm in the orange circle...small I know.



Keep your glass half full…I’m out..

Balance is in progress...

Did you think I was done? Done...done? Nope...just took an extended hiatus.

You know when your life is spinning out of control and in order to gain balance you let certain things go until you can get a handle on them again? That would be me!

I am not committing to be full fledged with daily postings, my life just isn't that interesting and I am not running. Not that that is interesting either.

I just thought I would check in and let those that may wonder where I've been...or not...that I'm still around and I'll be attempting to update my blog more regulary.

Life is going on and as you can see by my tweets sometimes I only need 140 characters or less to define said life!

Running will commence in October. Right now I'm working on...stuuuuffff and about 30 visting vehicle flights, so it is only hree but the challenges make it feel like 30. Oh...and I can't just call them shuttle flights because that would be an incorrect statement.

Balance is in progress...stay tuned.

W2D3, 4, 5

Wednesday I didn’t do a thing, moving right along to Thursday.

Thursday I attempted to run two miles but my knees had other plans. Jodie and I started out and I didn’t even make 300 meters before I had to stop and walk. It was painful; I can’t even describe the pain other than to say…it freakin hurt. I walked for half a mile, attempting many times to get it up to a jog with no luck. Finally, on the second lap I told myself I was doing this…and yeah it hurt, I took it slow and I either began to get used to the pain or it subsided after awhile but I was able to run .5 miles the entire time…with lots o pain.

I had to leave to take the boy to TaeKwondo so that cut my run, walk, waddle short.

My thought is the knee pain if from shredding but my own fault, not that of the workout itself. POOR FORM. I noticed at the end of my workout on Tuesday I was really…really tired and I was just pushing through and I know my form sucked it. And…yes it did and my knees are telling me so.

I am going to take Friday off…also because I think I’m trying to shake off a cold or some kind of ailment, my body was aching last night and this morning.

I’ll get back at the shredding on Saturday morning; I’m also going to move up to level 2. Here’s hopin it all works out.

Have a good weekend, may the wind be at your back.

Out.

W2D2

I shredded last evening, it is getting so much easier, my knees are hurting a bit today though, not sure what that is all about, they are prolly just sore from kicking myself in the butt…a lot. I blame Jullian.

A cold front came through and it is windy and 50 so me no runny today. I know you guys up North are telling me to shut it right now…I get it. Suck it up…right. Nope! I don’t have the gear…and just wait until Summer when it 150% humidity and I’m swimming through my run half naked, I’ve got plenty of gear for that…perhaps too much. It all evens out.

On tap for this evening…after my I get my do done will be more shredding. This will be my last workout on level 1. Sniff…sniff. I graduate to level 2 tomorrow, I hope I am worthy.

Oh…and my youngest better figure out how to sleep through the night EVERYNIGHT cause momma is not wide awake at 2 am as no living human being should be. Learn it…love it…DO IT! For goodness sakes…I’m begging.

That’s all I got. Nothing earthshattering.

Out.

W2D1 – Week 1 results

Here are the numbers:

17JAN09
Starting Weight: 167
Waist: 32.5
Hips: 38
Right Thigh: 23
Left Thigh: 24
Right Calf: 14.5
Left Calf: 15
Right Arm: 12.5
Left Arm: 12.5
Neck: 13.5

26JAN09
Starting Weight: - 2.2
Waist: - 1.0
Hips: - 1.0
Right Thigh: 0.0
Left Thigh: - 0.5
Right Calf: + 0.5
Left Calf: 0.0
Right Arm: - 0.5
Left Arm: 0.0
Neck: + 0.5

So there ya go…I love seeing all those negatives.

Yesterday I forgot my running shoes so I went home and Shredded. I think I’m just about ready to move up to level 2. One more workout tonight should do it. I’ve been using 5 lb weights and I’m even thinking I’m ready to move up to 7.5, in some of the exercising that is. The lateral raises are still tough with the 5lbers so I may have to switch back and forth. Who knows…Level 2 may kick my butt so bad I stay with the 5s.

Overall I’m happy with the results so far…I need to keep my eating in check and I just think about how many more numbers will fall off if I did it every day. Still working on that.

This evening I will be shredding late since I didn’t get my ass out of bed this morning. I was teerd and I love sleep. Sleep…sleep…sleep.

I hope all had good results their first week of the challenge. Keep it up…after this week we are all halfway there.

Out.

W1D5 – D7

Still shredding, albeit not as often as I would like but such is life. No…really…life so gets in the way of working out. Seriously…could you just be mindful of my schedule please?

Last week I ran 2 miles on Thursday and attempted 3 on Friday but only made 2. You don’t even know how bad of an attitude I had on Friday. I was struggling from the push of the button on the stop watch. Unfortunately I let my attitude win and stopped at 2. I just wasn’t feeling it and the thought of making two more laps around the 800 meter trail was too much for me to handle, on that day.

I was proud of myself that I didn’t go home and wallow in whatever carboliscous thing I could stuff in my pie hole. I had my EZ pizza, which I’m loving and could eat every night. Come to think about it…I think I have.

I didn’t shred on Friday but I did Saturday morning while the hubby and the boy went to karate. Monkey went down for his morning nap and I got a ton of stuff done, it felt good.

Saturday I managed to stay on track food wise but I got derailed on Sunday. Not crazy or anything I can’t recover from, just a few bad habits I’ve picked up along the way that I fell back into. Such as…getting my lunch from McyD’s, it’s only a hamburger happy meal so at least I’m not talking super size me on anything, it could always be worse but nonetheless it is a bad habit. Did I mention I got a chocolate chip cookie too? No, well, normally I have two; I gave the other to the boy. Also, I had cereal after din, but only about half of what I used to eat.

So I consider it a win that I wasn’t as bad as I could have been but I know I need to oust those habits altogether because none of it is “clean”.

I got my three workouts in for the week, barely. I did run 4 times this week, one more than last week. So I’m content…I did much more exercising than I did the previous week and that my friends is progress.

I’m happy to report my hubby is still shredding too and when he is done I kind find him cussing Jillian for the soreness he feelis throughout his body. It’s cute. I guess he told is business partner how tough it was he went out and got a copy.

I’m still doing level one, I’ve read several reviews that mentioned peeps stayed on each level for 10 days. I guess I better get to shredding more frequently if I want to successfully reach level two by WEDNESDAY. Holy cow! I guess I’ll be shredding Monday and Tuesday fo sho.

Next entry will include the numbers from last week and the beginning of this week. All I can tell you is I have good news!

Challenge W1D3

Technically if you are following along I am reporting on Tuesday's activity so it’s really a W1D2 report…it’s all semantics.

Yesterday I busted out a big 3 miles, 3x1 style in 35:33. Not too bad for an out of shape white girl. I was fighting with my ear buds a few times so I know that slowed me down a bit. All in all everything felt good, I can tell my body is remembering what it was like to run miles and it seems happy.

I got out to the track a bit later than I wanted therefore I finished later, stopped for gas and ran by the alterations place so they could sew patches on the boy’s TaeKwondo jacket before Thursday’s class; which equates to not getting home until almost 6:30, frick.

We tagged teamed getting the kids fed, bathed and off to bed and it is 8:30 before I can figure out what I need to get done the rest of the evening, I still haven’t eaten or Shredded and the house needs to be picked up for our house cleaner coming on Wednesday…and yes, I know I am blessed to have this luxury and I would sacrifice many other luxuries in order to hold on to her…she’s awesome. Bottom line I decided to go ahead and eat my EZ pizza and call it a night. My thought was that I would try and Shred in the morning.

No getty uppy this morning so I’ll use my allocated running time to Shred today, yesterday’s rest day will be today then I’ll pick back up Thursday and Friday. I need to get my ASS out of bed; nights are too hectic to expect to get in a run and Shred. I’ll coordinate with the hubster so we can plan a schedule for working out in the mornings.

Gotta have friends…two of them told me today that my waist looked smaller. I can attribute that to two things…a great pair of black pants I found at Target and I’m not bloated from the crap I was eating prior to this week. Three days does make a difference and its reflecting on the scale (yeah…can’t help it…my name is Sandy and I’m a daily scale watcher). Is there a twelve step for that?

That’s all I got for now…I’m out.

Challenge W1D2

Two miles in 23:04 (3X1), my music crapped out with 400 meters to go but I think it definitely helped over all; the time seemed to fly by. I was by myself this time and it wasn’t so bad. AND I finally tried out the new ear buds that Santa brought and what a difference, crisp, clear quality sound. AND they fit in my freakishly small ears without falling out, something I’ve struggled with foreva…on console the earpiece I wear never stays in my ears.

I got home and commenced with the Shred. OH.MY.GOSH…it kicked my butt, in a good way. It wasn’t crazy tough but tough enough. I love Jillian…but she scares me. Even though I know she can’t “see” me I have this feeling she can and I don’t want her to yell at me so I work that much harder. She would so make me cry.

I took my measurements and weighed, decided not to do pix. No one, even I should have to look at that. EVER!

After my workout I knew the hubby was aching to do something so I suggested he try Jillian’s DVD. I think even he was surprised at how well it incorporated the strength, cardio and abs training. I challenged him to do it with me for the next 30 days. We’ll have to come up with our own reward…yeah baby…exactly what you are thinking!

Technically today is a rest day on the running schedule but I think I’m going to go ahead and bust out the 3 scheduled for tomorrow. My schedule is catawampus because I take the weekends off, for now. I feel good stepping up to three, especially with yesterday’s accomplishment. I’m trying to figure out the interval training program on my Garmin...whatever I did it wasn’t right because the alarm was going off the entire time. I may just wear my other watch until I get the interval training program figured out.

AND finally, I turned down multiple offers of chocolate covered strawberries from Perry’s Italian. MY FAV! YAY me.

Speaking of food...I read Oxygen magazine and found a supurb quick meal recipe. Quick and very filling but not over done. This is most excellent since I won't be eating until later in the evening. I don't recall the name...I shall call him...EZ Pizza.

I'll edit with the exact ingredient amounts and nutrition data...once I find where I put that silly thing.

EZ Pizza

2 slices of Ezekeil bread
1 chicken or Turkey breast (6oz)
Cottage cheese
Parmasean Cheese
Pinch or Oregano
Pinch of Basil
Pepper
Tomato

Some Assembly required:

Bread
Tomato
Oregano
Basil
Pepper
Chicken (sliced)
Cottage cheese
Parm

Heat in a toaster oven at 400 for 20 minutes.

YUMO-LISCOUS

I’ll attempt to post my measurements in the next couple of days.

Hasta manana!

Challenge W1D1

I’m very excited to begin the "shredding" challenge today. By
shredding I mean working out to Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD. I am already struggling with getting up in the AM to workout; I’m going to have to resign to the fact that it may be 9pm before I can get my workout in. The baby still isn’t sleeping through the night consistantly and momma needs her sleep. As long as it happens…right? I’ll try it on tonight and see how it fits.

I’ll take my measurements tonight, should have done that this morning but the both boys got up early I barely had enough time to get my running bag packed. Should have done it the night before.

As far as the eats goes…I’m going clean and portion control. I’ll factor in what I know, eat a protein at every meal, control portions and NO SWEETS. The carbs I will limit to one or two a day, I’m not going to go through an entire deplete week so in essense I will use the “Crack the Fat Loss Code” as a baseline but I’m not going hardcore on following the program exactly. I’ll report my experience and of course the numbers won’t lie.

Inches will be the name of the game for this challenge as the scale can be deflating (or inflating). I will of course weigh myself but I’m hoping I can keep it down to once a week (who am I kidding). No really…if the inches are melting I don’t care if the scale is fluctuating 5 pounds in either direction. It’s about being lean.

The weather is absolutely beautiful today and I am thinking about taking advantage of it during lunch to get a quick 2 in as the schedule calls for. Heck I may even get ambitious and bump it to three. What schedule you say? Nothing that I’m prepping for specifically, it just helps to have a schedule and if a race or two pops up that suits my fancy I’ll run it by the hubby and sign up, staying ahead of the curve this year. Acting instead of reacting…that one of my many changes for the year.

So…that’s the plan for the next 30 days. Wish me luck. Oh…and I’m keeping tabs on my competition and just so you know…I’m ultra competitive. YOU. HAVE. NO. IDEA! There ya go…the gauntlet has been laid down!

See ya at the finish line.

Week 2 of 2009

Week 2 went much better than week 1. I RAN! Not once, not twice but THREE times. Jodie kicked my butt with yesterday’s run and we shaved an entire minute off our previous time. I felt it though. That’s what I like about running with someone and especially Jod…I know we will push each other, her usually more than me and I’ll drop dead before I stop. It’s that competitive thing we got going…but not in a bad way.

Next week I begin this challenge. Santa brought me Jillian’s 30 Day Shred for Christmas (because I asked not because he was dropping hints) and I was going to start it hard core on Monday anyways so perfect timing, beginning Monday I will post my progress and list my thoughts of the program daily. I can do this for 30 days but I absolutely HAVE to figure out how to work out in the morning since I’m doing my cardio in the afternoons. I’ll have to think about that this weekend and let you know what the hubby and I figure out. Here’s to shredding…

Weekend plans…the hubby put together my fire pit Santa brought AND he bought some wood so I’m thinking roasted hot dogs and marshmallows tomorrow night. The boy will so love that. I have the greatest Hubby evar! We will also stop by my Granny’s house and do Christmas…I guess I have to finish up the gifts. Slacker I know.

Looks like it will be busy and productive. I’ll be glad to spend time with the fam. During the week the time just seems to get shorter and shorter. Life…I know.

For all those peeps running in the Houston Chevron Marathon and the Aramco Half I’ll be thinking about ya…weather looks to be perfect, may you all PR.

OUT!

It's a New Year...

It’s a New Year…we rang in the New Year with our neighbors. It was pretty low key, didn’t even drink that much. We had fun and I’m glad we went. I love our neighbors.

The New Year brings new goals, both personal and for the family. I’m still working on an “official” list so I can gauge my progress this time next year.

First an foremost the working out and eating thing is fo sho. Starting one and stopping the other. Of course not stopping eating entirely, then I would die but doing it right. Eating CLEAN. I’ve got a plan and I’m sticking to it. On February 5th I will give a full report of what I did and my progress, I’m not doing it now in an effort to prevent making sweeping statements that I’ve made so many times before.

My initial plan is to work out in the morning with weight training and do cardio in the afternoon at work. The cardio will be slow going at first since I’ve done no kind of running, except to the fridge the last six months. I can’t wait to get back out there. I’ve got my lunch made for the week and the hubby and I have already planned dinner for tomorrow. I will pack my bag tonight with my running clothes. That’s right…you heard me…RUNNING clothes.

I’ve got a lot of things swimming in my head that I want to accomplish this year but I would like to give them a bit more thought before I actually put them in print and make them final.

Good luck and much encouragement to all that have made their goals this year!

Sum it up in three letters...C-R-A-Z-Y

Still here but way back when I said things were going to settle down when I went back to work must have been one of those nights I didn’t get much sleep. One I can sum it up in three letters C-R-A-Z-Y…go ask Biden. In order to ease the pain of posting a novel I’m going to bullet my update…to just get it over with.

o WOE update…yes I am still crack a lackin but I hit a wall Wednesday last week, celebrating a birthday on Wednesday that was actually on Tuesday, bosses day on Thursday threw in Friday for good measure and I never recovered. Weird though I ended up at a loss for the week. Whoo hoo!

o For much needed motivation I joined Viv’s challenge. A few months ago I sat on the sidelines and I am so glad she decided to do this again. She does a great job. I need a big push before the holidays.

o Work has been C-R-A-Z-Y. I actually came back at a good time, when things are hot and heavy with flight prep. Thankfully I kept up with things while I was on leave for almost four months or I would have sunk and fast.

o Being back at work I realized that I am at a point in my life that I could have stayed home with the baby. Unlike the first go around with the boy, this time around I was totally enjoying our days and our routines together. Yeah…I said that and it’s in print.

o I NEED TO START RUNNING. With the cooler temps I’m aching for it. I drive by the jogging trail twice a day and they finally cleared all the down trees and I think to myself…one day I’m going to be out there hating that biotch. Soon…

o We took family pictures for Christmas this past weekend and the hubby had to give me perspective to calm me down. LOL…usually it is the other way around in our house. LOL…JC Penny does not equal professional photographer. Yeah…whatever.

o Jodie tagged me oh I don’t know a week, a month or so ago so here is 6 random things about RedDaisy:

1. I am OCD about my food touching…IT CAN’T, must not even come close. I am a constantly searching for designer plates that have dividers. When I can find them…that will be a most excellent day.

2. When I am eating M&M’s, the peanut ones of course. I divide them up by color, eat the odd numbered colors to make them even and finally eat them in order from least favorite to favorite color, suck on them till I crack the hard shell then suck all the chocolate off until only the peanut is left then I eat the peanut. Every time…

3. I have to shower every night before I go to bed. Even if I stayed in the house all day…shower. You hear of new moms not being able to take a shower or shave their legs…I was not one of them. It is the difference of a pleasant night sleep being clean like a bean or a crappy night sleep being all “…stick-he…I hate it when it’s stick he…”

4. My name is RedDaisy and I am a blog stalker. It is not that I don’t want to leave comments but often times I catch up on most of my blogs while feeding the Monkey before putting him to bed on my iPhone. Reading the blogs on my iPhone not putting the baby to sleep on my iPhone. I feel like in order to leave a comment it should be really great and that adds value to the topic at hand. I’m weird.

5. I absolutely didn’t want to have kids…before I had them.

6. I try and find the good in most situations and some have labeled me as a Polly Anna.

o A blog that is finally getting updated more regularly had become one of my favorite Daddy blogs. It is a man writing words of wisdom for his two sons. He is an incredible writer and I think many will be able to identify with his wisdom, struggles and insight. Peruse on over and make sure you have tissue on hand. Ok...I am a little biased but I wouldn't suggest the effort if it wasn't worthy of your time.

Wow…it’s already over. FAST! Now I gotta go update the kids’ newsletters, which I am behind on thanks to Mr. Ike.

Glad to be back on the radar.

Lunch with the ladies today was wonderful. All of us are doing the WOE and it was great to talk about it and compare notes. I also got caught up on the work gossip as always. Nothing too exciting but I always look forward to the company and conversation…it’s getting me through my maternity leave time…love my girls.

I’m a buckethead and forget to check the diaper bag for diapers and low and behold I go to change the monkey who had a dirty diaper and guess what…no diapers…that’s a problem. Thankfully I use cloth diapers for burp rags and I slapped one of those on the monkey’s bottom and off we went. Of course it took him all of two minutes to wet through the diaper but it was a quick fix until I got home.

This weekend I am bound and determined to have a good weekend with the family. Saturday we’re going to go to the Children’s Museum downtown and I just know the boy will have a great time and it will do the family good.

I planned my menu for next week…OMG…if you don’t have an Iphone GET ONE!! There is an application called Shopper and it allows you to create a shopping list of whatever, even has categories and such. I checked the food I needed based on my menu and emailed it to the hubby in case he goes to the grocery store this weekend!! How awesome is that.

Now I’m attempting to plan the weekend so we can be productive and have quality family time. The boy starts his new school on Monday and he is soooo excited.

I get to exercise beginning Tuesday so I need to plan that too. I will have to stick to the elliptical for now cause the ‘girls’ (e.g. boobs) are not ready to run yet, talk about painful. So I’m planning elliptical and core training.

Have a great weekend everyone…look at me…posting two days in a row!

Reporting In

Still here but I’ve been hella busy! The hubby had knee surgery a couple of weeks ago and we got through it. It was challenging holding down the fort but the hubby was a model patient and I was determined to get through the short term development with my sanity in tact. Here to report…done and done. AND I made my first ever Kasha Varnishkas for the hubby…that’s a Jewish staple for those not in the know. Look at this Chicksa go!

The boys are doing fine. The monkey is growing like a weed, filling out and he started smiling regularly in the last couple of days. It is amazing to see his face light up. Bugamug is having a bit of difficulty of late with school and overall authority. We’re not sure if it is the new baby but I think he is spoiled, strong willed and generally a non-conformist; we rocked his world yesterday and we will so how that goes. I’m keeping my fingers crossed we get a good report from school today.

On the workout front I officially started this week. I walk in the morning, this week about 2 miles; I plan on stepping it up every week and eventually getting my run on. I also weight train and mix in core workouts daily. The monkey has been very cooperative, as long as I meet his demand of food between the walk and weights. We’re figuring it out.

I’m headed to Clear Lake tomorrow for lunch with the girls. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone. I’m kinda getting used to this staying at home routine, I’m able to get ‘to do’s’ marked off my list left and right. Yeah…no chance this stay at home mom temporary situation becomes permanent.

Short and sweet…but that’s about all I can muster lately, the Monkey is already showing signs of boredom, very loud I may add.

Remembering...

4th of July

Today was the Monkey’s first 4th of July. I documented his blog with the event and I couldn’t help but think about my past 4th of July and the ones I have fond memories of.

I am not sure of the year but I had to be in 4th or 5th grade because my sister was still a toddler. A friend of my parents (The St. John’s) had family that had a house in Morgan’s Point right across the street from Sylvan Beach, they launch fire works off a barge in the bay. We were so close ash from the firecrackers rained down on us and my sister was so scared she screamed the entire time.

When I was in high school my Dad worked for the City of LaPorte and he we responsible for lighting the fireworks display. It was so cool seeing the fireworks and knowing my Dad was responsible for them. At the same time I was scared to death one would ignite on the barge, I think I spent more time watching those fireworks being lit than exploding in the sky.

Lake Texhoma 2002 – We had five boxes of fireworks and went to light them on the shore of the lake and a crowd of cars gathered on the opposite side of the shore and when a really good firework would go off they would honk their horns and flash their lights. It was quite a scene.

Russia 2003 – Celebrating the 4th in Star City, Russia was quite memorable, not to mention some other things that went on (everything happens for a reason babe). Being on lockdown due to a sucide bomber at a festival outside the city is something you don’t get in the good ole US of A!

This forth we kept it low key primarily due to the Monkey being so new. The hubby did pick up fireworks for the boys and we invited a few of our neighbors along for the ride as well. The boy had a great time and the monkey slept through most of them. The rest of the day we ran a few errands and the hubby and I watched Kung Fu Hussle in Blu Ray. As weird as it sounds…it is acutally a pretty good watch. Mindless.

Saturday Jod and Nic came over for a visit which was much needed. I missed ‘my girls’. We got caught up on everything and they brought the boy birthday gifts, which he loved and Jod sat with the baby the entire three hours they were here…which the monkey slept the entire time and continued to sleep until about 1:30 in the morning. Minor setback.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful…thankfully not much to report.

The upcoming week will be a series of choreographed events, the boy goes the doc on Monday. I’m taking both boys…by myself, it’s a bit more work than it used to be.

On Wednesday I’m heading down to Clear Lake for a going away ‘happy hour’ party. All the babies will be there and adult socializing…YAY.

Thursday I’m planning on taking both boys to Taekwondo. Should be exciting.

Fun stuff huh. LOL…the life of a temp SAHM.

I’m not mentally ready for the Jodieversary challenge yet, officially. I’m working on the eating habits but I REALLY want to exercise and my body is so not there yet. The doc should release me in a few weeks. Plus the hubby is fixin to have surgery on his knee on the 17th and I want to focus on parenting this two kid thingy right now and that mental challenge is all I can handle today. One day at a time.

Looks like I missed the Houston Half, no worries…it on for Austin!

Settling In

Time flies when you are having fun or have a newborn. Things have been going ok, Friday was my roughest day; I had my two week doc appmt to check on my incision. I was prepared and got to the doctor's office in plenty of time. I was sitting in the waiting room and all these women were commenting on my baby and how tiny he was then the hormones overcame my will power not to cry and I lost it. Not really sure why I couldn’t compose myself but the factors add up to hormones and being a bit overwhelmed as a new mom…again.

Friday was the first day I was on my own, in the outside world with the baby, late nights, early mornings and being on demand came to a head right there in the doctor’s office. The doc asked if I needed any anti depressants, yes one of the few out there that do not currently take AD meds. I stress currently, just kidding…or not. We made it home but the monkey cried the last twenty minutes of the ride home. Good times.

Saturday I felt much better and got my confidence back, so much so in the evening I went for a car ride and took both of the boys while the hubby made an appearance at the flamingo party. We didn’t ‘go’ anywhere just drove, which I love to do to clear my head every now and again. I gave the boy a bath and put him to bed, I needed to prove to myself that I can adjust to this new way of life and I did a damn good job. The monkey is still up a lot during the night and boy it is taking its toll.

Monday I was the model wife and mom. I had the house straightened up, dinner on the table and the young boys and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Then I was pooped. I was happy I started walking but I could tell that my incision still hasn’t healed 100% because I felt it after all the activity from the day.

Tuesday the monkey had his two week checkup and great news. He weighs 6 lbs 9 ouches and has grown to 19 ¼ inches long. He is in the 10-25% for his weight and 50% for his height. Everything else is perfect and other than the heel stick and more tears from me it was a good day. The hubby and I had lunch at Katz’s before the doc appmt. It was nice to get back to normal, even if the new normal is a lil guy accompanying us for awhile.

Last night the monkey and I had a stand off with sleeping arrangements. Since he has been born he has slept on me (count 18 days), just doing what I had to do to get some sleep. Well…Mom has had enough and last night we went to the spare bedroom and we started sleeping in the co-sleeper. It was a bit tough, he wasn’t happy that 1. He was in a swaddle and 2. He was not on mommy. He hadn’t been comfortable on me for the last few days anyway.

So…it is Wednesday and the monkey is napping in the bassinet, trying to get him on a scheduled as fast as possible, I need this in a big way.

Our plans for the fourth…looks like we’re going keep it low key and meet up with the neighbors in the evening for fireworks for the kids. FUN!!

Now for the Jodieversary Challenge.

The challenge officially started yesterday…I was bad but I’m not dwelling on it…moving on to today, I did weigh and I’m following P.O.M.'s lead and posting my starting weight stats and goal. It was inspirational for me to see that info and know my goal is achievable with hard work.

I am not able to exercise yet…so my plan is to get my eating under control until the doc releases me, prolly won’t make this challenge but I gots to start somewhere.

And finally…there is someone special in my life that I can’t say enough about how special he is to me and the boys…my hubby. He has been spending a lot of time with the boy and keeping him occupied while I get the monkey acclimated to his new life with us. He cooks dinner, makes sure the boy is clean and ready for bed, reads stories and stays with him as long as it takes to get the boy to sleep all the while coping with his business and doing all he was doing before…in a nutshell he is no couch potato and I just want to put it on paper (or web) how important he is to me and I couldn’t even think about doing this without him.

Everything is stressful and a bit chaotic right now but I know one day…it will just be.

Holy cow...just read Steve's comment about the Houston Marathon and Half reaching capacity this weekend. CRAZY!! I am still planning on training and perhaps may look to do Austin or one in the vacinity just can't commit to spending the cashiola and not be able to get there. It will work out as it should.