Wow... A Long Weekend...

This has been a great long weekend for me. I usually have Thursday's off, and this week I took Friday as a vacation day to use up some time I was afraid I would lose if I didn't take it before two of my co-workers have their babies! Hubs was home Friday and today (he leaves early tomorrow morning) and it was nice to spend some time with him.

I made a decision the other day, actually it's been a long time coming, but after almost 1 1/2 years, I quit my guitar lessons. No, this doesn't mean I'll stop playing, I love to play, but I am not going to worry and stress about getting all my Thursday activities done and whether or not I've practiced enough on the homework he gave me. Don't get me wrong, my teacher was amazing and I will always be grateful for everything I've learned, but it was starting to stress me out! I was doing it for myself and for relaxation, and since it's become stressful I just knew it was time to take a break. I'm hoping to find some people to jam with occasionally, or play at church and stuff, but for now it's going to be just me and my guitar! Who knows, maybe I'll be inspired to write another song!

Yesterday I was able to treat myself to a new pair of running shoes and a couple of new sport bras. This was long overdue, and very important if I'm going to become a serious runner and finish the training for my 10k as well as the 1/2 marathon I'm considering. I was able to go to a great store here called Gazelle Sports and Vicki fit me with a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11... and they ROCK! I did 5 miles today (!!!!) and it felt really good! Also, the girls were really happy in the new Nike DriFit bra I snuggled them into!!! Overall.. a very nice run indeed!

Hubby got some news at work as well.. he gets a new truck tomorrow! At the company he works for the drivers are each assigned there own truck so they can pretty much set it up how they want and live in it like a little rolling hotel room. This was his home for six months. But he had the oldest truck in the fleet and they've started slowly updating them. The new truck he will roll out in tomorrow is set up very much like the one he had, so that will be nice, but it's BRAND NEW and an automatic! If you know anything about semi-trucks, they are mostly 10 speeds, so this is completely new but apparently that is where the industry is heading. They had some work to do on it today, so we didn't get to move him in yet, but he'll get there early tomorrow and load in all his stuff. Pretty awesome!

Tomorrow I have to get up early and sing for church, which I love, but I really hope the roads don't get worse. It's snowing again and I hate driving on slick roads! Then I'll come home and get the boys ready to go back as a family for the second service. After that it's lunch and probably hair cuts for the boys.. and then workout and laundry! Oh, and it's Oscar night... yes, I lead an amazingly boring life!

Anyway.. I'm hoping to have some new lyrics written soon... just looking for inspiration! Have a great weekend!!!!

Ready For Spring!!!

We had a warm up in the weather last week which was AMAZING and got me all ready for spring. This weekend, winter reared it's ugly freezing head again. I CAN NOT get warm... seriously! The only time's I've been warm in the past three days have been under my electric blanket at night or while exercising!!! It stinks. I'm SO ready for spring!!!

Had a great time at the play Saturday night with my littlest man. The Creekside Players did a great job with Willy Wonka Junior (that's really what they called it) and I was glad to hear he really enjoyed it too! Sunday was a lunch date after church with my other little-ish man and then home before the weather really got bad. Seriously, the roads were already pretty bad when we headed home. I was supposed to sing at a church that evening, but of course all the churches in the area cancelled services since the roads were so bad. The storm is over now, but the snow is still here, and it's REALLY cold! Yes, I'm complaining.. and no it doesn't make a difference!!!

Geesh... I really need to get a life. Anyway... maybe after my feet warm up I will!!!! BRrrrrrr.....

Hey, Look What I Can Do!!!!

One year ago I was a sedentary, obese, crabby woman. Nine months ago I started running. Today, I ran FOUR miles without stopping!!!! Holy crap!!!! Look at that... hard work paid off!!! This training for a 10k is going great and next weekend I need to do five miles and you know what? I know I can!!! I wouldn't have thought that before this journey started, but now I know I can do anything I want with a lot of hard work and determination!!!!!

Speaking of which, I signed up for my 10k this week so I have no excuse and can't back out!!!! Kind of scary, but totally excited. After today I have no doubt I'll finish... hopefully with a respectable time, but my main goal is always to finish!!!

The sky's the limit... seriously!!!!

Taking my kid on a date to the theater tonight.. to see the middle school production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!!!! Awesome weekend!!! TTFN>.....

Another Milestone...

So I don't want to brag... oh, heck yes I want to brag!!! I usually weigh in on Thursdays since I get to go to the gym in the morning and I haven't eaten a day's worth of food. So today I weighed in and lost another 2.5 pounds! That puts me under a certain weight that a girl my height should never be over! So that will be the last time I go over that number again!!!! I'm so determined that this will be the last time I lose these pounds. I hate this part! Can't wait to get to the hot mama part of life!!!

My run this morning went really well. Three miles used to seem like such a huge amount, now I just knock it out and hit the weight machines! I love how my brain is craving excersize. I used to sit around so much and be so tired all the time. Now when I excersize I just have so much energy all day and feel like I'm toned and tighter in my jeans!!! The girl that works at my gym noticed today that I have been losing and tightening up and I told her about my weight loss. She was happy for me (skinny thing that she is) and I told her "who knew eating well and excersizing actually worked!" We laughed for a minute. I know, I'm so funny, right? Well, not really, but I just felt really good about myself right then, and even now several hours later!

So I'm 5 miles into my 100 mile challenge. Going strong!!!! Later dudes....

2 down... 98 to go!!!

Yes, I'm talking about miles in my 100 mile challenge! Monday's and Wednesday's are non-running days for me right now due to work and other obligations. That's ok, because bodies need rest after good workouts and it just works out for me that those two days are too busy to get moving. So, I ran 2 miles yesterday as scheduled in my training program, and tomorrow I'm supposed to do 3 miles! Shouldn't be a problem... I'm pretty excited actually! I actually like this now that I'm started. Running, that is. I know I've said that before, but it still really amazes me!

Another part of the challenge is strength training at least two times a week. This hasn't been a problem for me as I've been doing it three times a week pretty consistently since joining Snap Fitness in early December. Tomorrow I'm planning on another session after my run, so that would be 2 done for the week already! I'm rocking this challenge!

My next hurdle is really more financial... I need new running shoes! Mine have just about come to the end of their life expectancy and since I just picked them off a shelf nearly a year ago and they've been pretty good I can't complain. The problem is, now that I'm more serious and really training hard, I need the best shoes possible. This means no more clearance racks or 2 for 1 sales... I need to get fitted by a professional. This means cash. I hate complaining about it, because now that my husband has a nice job we're not nearly as broke as we were a year ago... but I hate spending $100 on a pair of shoes! Strange, huh? I spend way more than that on stupid stuff all the time, and this is something I'll use all the time and will really help me run farther and faster and thus lose weight and.. ok, I'm being completely random here... but I need to get myself to a shoe fitter.. pronto! Hoping to do that either tomorrow or next week... we'll see what the schedule does!

After the new shoes, I truly believe that the sky is the limit for me. I think that this may be the first time I truly believe that. Amazing what just a little success will do for you. Hope you can still live with me when I complete all these races this year! I may start getting a bigger head to go with my smaller body!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Ok, so I don't get to spend the day with my Valentine since he's out trucking, but I did wear my pink sweater to work... so that's something! Another thing I didn't do today was eat chocolate or candy! For that, I'm super proud of myself! Usually I buy myself a whole bag of candy and eat it myself, but this time I decided I'm worth more than that and I haven't even looked at the candy in the store! Wow, what a change!

So I've been using this calorie counting website for a few weeks called myfitnesspal.com and it's such a great site! Not only easy to use, but a great supportive community with people just like me trying to get fit and lose weight and deal with life in general! Yesterday I started on a challenge that I stumbled across on the message boards. I'm really excited to get into this! The biggest challenge will be going 100 miles (walking/running) by Easter! I know this is possible, and I'm hoping to get close to 150, but the main thing this will do is help keep me focused and on track. There are other pieces to the challenge as well, like getting enough water, staying under our calorie goals, making healthy choices both with food and excersize and in life in general... that sort of thing. Sounds like the girls running it are putting a lot of thought into what things we should concentrate on each week and I'm excited to get into it! Of course, being my Monday's are horribly crazy, I won't start my mileage until tomorrow after work. But I did get plenty of water in today at work and have so far stayed under my calorie and sodium goals for the day!!! Wahoo!

I've become really obsessed with running lately. Spending lots of time online looking up races and figuring out how many I should do this year... I think it's going to be a great year! More and more I'm thinking that I'll be running a half marathon by September... I really WANT to, which is so super strange for me. One year ago I told people the only time I run is if someone is chasing me with a big knife!!!! Now I do it all the time! Still wouldn't say I particularly love it, but I know how good it is for me and I'm loving the challenge of it! Can't believe I'm now one of those crazy people who will line up for a race in the rain and smile the whole freaking time!!!! Oh My Goodness!!! Who knew this change was coming for me... I certainly wouldn't have believed it myself even a year ago!

Keeping myself accountable with my food intake and my excersizing is really paying off... maybe I'll be bathing suit shopping before long!!! And I really need a new pair of running shoes... that will be coming first I think!

Sunny Saturday!

Wow, the sun is shining so brightly today, it's just wonderful! Now if the temperatures would warm up accordingly... what can I say, it's Michigan winter! Freezing is part of living here. I just can't seem to get warm this week. As I'm typing this I'm bundled under my electric blanket set on high, and I'm STILL cold! I'm sure it will go away... at least I hope so.

Last night I had the most amazing time with my co-worker friends. I work in an office with about 20 women and 4 men. Right now we have 2 girls who are pregnant, one with number three and the other with her first. With all first babies, we MUST have a shower. It's a requirement. Seriously!!! So last night we had a baby shower for the new baby girl our friend is going to have within the next five weeks! She's already named the baby, which was really fun because we were able to play a game using the letters of her name (which I won because I'm good with that game) and she even got some stuff with her name embroidered on it! Super cute stuff and we all had a great time eating and laughing and telling funny stories about each other and our bosses... just a lot of fun with women I care about! We range in age from 19 to 81 in my office (I'm not exaggerating) but MAN can we have a good time together!!!! Can't wait to meet the newest little ones... I love holding babies... and giving them back to their mamas!!!!

Today I had to work, which I never like having to do on Saturday's, but we are only there until a little after noon, so no biggie. Best part was coming home and having my husband already here! He's home today and tomorrow until the evening when he has to be back out on the road once again. The life of a trucker can be hard, but he's doing so well and I'm so proud of him! So nice to know he's doing something he enjoys and is making the kind of money he deserves and is able to provide for us and make a nice life for our family. Certainly never thought my life would look like this, but I always knew we'd be together, and that's all that really matters to me.

So last week I got asked to sing at a different church. I accepted (for Feb 20) and now I'm racking my brain trying to think of which hymns to sing! They like traditional ones which I'm not entirely used to but I love, but since I'm not as familiar with some of them I'm just having trouble choosing two! I think I picked one, but the second is driving me nuts! I'm sure it will come to me, but I really need to pick it so I can call the lady so she can tell the person who will be playing piano for me! I'm kind of excited though, I've been wanting to get my name out there for weddings and such in the area but really didn't know how to get started.. maybe this will be the push I needed???? We shall see.

Ok, I think that might be about it for today, I might take a short nap and then hit the gym this afternoon. I didn't do any cardio yesterday, although I did do my 30 minute ab workout again after the party last night. Didn't have time to do the arc trainer since I had to get up early today! Still tracking my calories on myfitnesspal.com and you know what? I've lost 2 pounds since last week!!! Very happy, sunny Saturday!!!!! TTFN!

Busy Busy... or notsomuch...

What a nice weekend I had! I was able to sleep and relax and hang with my guys.. even had a dinner date with my husband which hardly ever happens!!! We had a gift certificate... even better! Gotta love saving money.. I always do!

Back to a typical week for me, extremely busy and hectic and yuck. Today, though, we were pretty slow at work (one of our Dr.'s is on a mission trip to Honduras) so I snuck out early and hit the gym!! I had a meeting for my son's school tonight so hitting the gym early was so helpful to me! That way I was done with that and showered before the meeting and then could come home and have supper and not worry about getting in my run! Wish I could leave early every day.. .sure would make my life easier! Well, so would winning the lottery so I could stay home, but that's not likely to happen, now is it???? You never know...

My training for the 10k is going well. So far I've done one week, which has consisted of three 2 mile "easy" runs. These are a much slower pace than I would normally run, especially on race day. They are designed to increase endurance and strength (I'm hoping they will burn some fat too!!). I'm following the program as close as I can, so tonight I did my run and since I won't have time to hit the gym tomorrow I also did my weight lifting. Tomorrow will be a rest day, and I'll hit it again on Thursday! By the weekend I'll have my first 3 mile "easy" run, and by the following weekend.... 4 miles! I haven't yet run a full 4 miles without stopping. I'm a little nervous about this, but I'm hopeful and going to just put something on tv so I don't pay attention to it at all... yeah right, I'll be watching the odometer the whole time, who am I kidding!!! But like I said... following the program!!!

Watching Biggest Loser tonight while the kids finish homework and talk to their friends on video chat! Lots of laughing going on in the other room. Hope that homework's really getting done!!! Better go crack the whip.... Later!

Fabulous Friday...

I love having my husband home. Really I do! But that usually doesn't stop me from doing what I need to do, he's the best! Today was sort of fun actually, even though I didn't do anything spectacular at all!

I got to go baby shopping. NO, not for me... for my co-worker who we are having a shower for next week!!! She's having her first little girl and I can't wait to meet her! I kind of feel like an Auntie, but I know she's going to have lots of Aunties and be about the most spoiled little girl ever... but it was so fun to shop for her! Two of my other co-workers and I went in together, mostly because I was already heading over to the store where she was registered and it's quite a hike to get there and they weren't going to have time. Which made it more fun!! I love shopping with other people's money!!! So I pretty much stuck to what she registered for, but I threw in one more thing.. can't wait to see the baby holding the little giraffe rattle!!! It's SO cute...

So then I had some lunch.. I love Panera! It makes things so easy to stop there and it's delicious and there are tons of healthy choices which is great. Then I came home and we cleaned up a bit. Not the best part of the day... And then we all, the four of us, went for dinner! I love having the four of us together, even if the boys have their iPods on they still participate in the conversation, and to this mom it feels wonderful to talk to my teenagers!!! We headed over to the Meijer across the street for a couple of cleaning supplies and I ended up getting one of those Libman mops with washable pads that squirts whatever cleaner you like onto the floor for you. I don't like a lot of cleaners, but I do like me some Pine Sol.. so that's what I got. The kitchen floor hasn't looked or smelled this good in a long time! And it's easy and fun and I think my younger son might actually like using it!!! We'll see how long that lasts, but I'm going to try and keep the floor cleaner. Something about it makes the whole house look and smell better!!!

Ok, so then I went to the gym. I ran yesterday and will do my long training run tomorrow, so tonight had to be something different and involved cross-training instead of running. The plan says something like weight lifting (which I also did yesterday) or elliptical or bike.. something like that. So I found an app for my phone that has all kinds of different workouts and I've been wanting to try this 31 minute ab workout (I know, it's wierd for me to want to work out at all!) so tonight I did that plus 30 minutes on the Arc trainer at the gym. I think I'm gonna feel that tomorrow!!!

So that's it. Sad that I think this was a good day, but to me it was. I didn't have any stress, got a little cleaning done, exercised and stayed under my calorie goal again for the second day in a row!!! AWESOME!!! It's a long journey to change your life from a couch potato to a healthy hot mama... but I'm in it for the long haul this time. No quick fixes, no shortcuts, just hard work! I really like the website I found for tracking my calories.. myfitnesspal.com. If you go on it and decide to sign up (it's free) you can add me as a friend and we can take the journey together!!!!

TTFN!!!

Does it Get Any Better???

That's my question for today. Does it get any better than this??? I have my usual Thursday off (and not a ton to do, thank you very much) and my kids are on snow day #2 due to yesterday's Snowmageddon, and this morning my husband came home for a couple of days!!!! Wahoo!!! Life is good...

Although.. my morning could have started better. I was sleeping (I didn't set the alarm since nobody had to get up) and my phone rang at 7:53 am. It was my husband. He needed me to drive down to his truck yard, which is about 20 minutes away, because he had... wait for it... locked his keys inside his running vehicle. Yes. My husband, professional truck driver extrordinair... locked his keys in his running, I said it, running vehicle. I was barely awake, with frosty frozen car windows, and I drove down to rescue him. Wife 1= Hubby 0.

But then we went for breakfast. Which was really nice. We hit McDonald's because I was ready to try their new Fruit and Maple Oatmeal. Let me just say.. it was really really good!!! I will be getting that again, and am very happy to be able to take my kids out for a quick breakfast again someday where I will actually eat something that won't ruin my whole day! 290 calories, 5g of protein, and it was yummy!!! Hooray for yummy, healthy, fast food!!!

Anyway, we're about to find some lunch for the four of us. Later!

Snowmageddon 2011!!!!

Holy moly.. it REALLY snowed last night! The roads have been horrible and the wind and snow was just too much for the plows to handle all at once! Here's the pic from my front door as I headed out this morning....




My son came out to help me shovel so I could get to my car, which was great! Then he tried to get to the snowblower which is in the shed behind the house... and this is what he saw....




Yeah.. that didn't happen!!!

But I went to work and had the most boring day EVER in the history of my office. Seriously, we had about 15 patients TOTAL in the entire day... we're used to about that many every half an hour!!!! So I'm off the rest of the week, Thursday's are my day off anyway and I'm taking a vacation day on Friday so I don't end up losing it. Looking forward to shopping and relaxing and cleaning and whatever else I can find! I'm sure more shoveling will be in my future as well. Hopefully I can get the snowblower started tomorrow... my son couldn't get it started today!!! But the best news is... I survived Snowmageddon 2011!!!!!

Snow Day!!!

My kids have a snow day tomorrow due to the blizzard that's a-brewing!!! I have to work, of course, so I might be waking them up at 7am to help shovel me out... but we'll see!!!

I had a great post all ready to go here, but then it didn't... and I don't have the time to retype it (even if I could remember it all!!!) So if I can think of it I will try again... or not!

BTW, Biggest Loser = Awesome TV!!!!

Thanks!