Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Just when I was prepared to ignore my husband this New Year

He called to say that he was on his way home from work, and they've finished everything they need to until Monday. Then he asked me, "Are you ready to go to Pittsburgh?"

Dude, now we can't go. While I'm used to living at the whim of your ever-changing work schedule, it makes my family crazy when I call them four times in two days to tell them we're coming, no we're not, yes...we are, no..not this time. Let's spend the New Year at home with our awesome kids and make it a fun evening (instead of me going to bed at 10pm to avoid kissing you at midnight--grudgy much?).

Maybe we'll go AFTER we watch Penn State kicks USC's ass at the Rose Bowl.

Plus, the eight-hundred dollars we'll save on the gorgeous New Year's Eve hotel room (ridiculous) can go to the YMCA of our choice (Milford or Ann Arbor) - and I'll be able to have childcare while I exercise this year!!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Exercise is Non-Negotiable, December 29 - January 3

I did go for a 40 min walk with my dog on Sunday, but didn't count it as exercise because I had to stop every 20 seconds or so to get her head on straight again, so we seriously only walked little over a mile in that time.

Monday - Gilad's Bodies in Motion (back,abs) and Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad (arms,thighs,shoulders)

*Tuesday - No exercise - power outage all over Detroit metro area means day three with no power at husband's work. Burned up infinity calories being pissed at husband who cancelled our New Years trip to visit family (and have a night to ourselves at the hotel). Instead of having Wed - Sunday off, he'll be working on some crappy commercial. Once again work wins over family.

*Wednesday - Gilad's Bodies in Motion and Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad

*New Year's Day - Total Body Sculpt Plus VIII. Seems that TBS+7 was erased, and Saturday's show will be...8. So, 9 weeks until I can record '7.' Evs.

*Friday - Cathe Friedrich - Bootcamp. I love you Cathe, my arms and aching legs thank you too :) Also, poop-eating dog loves this workout because of the multiple opportunities to stand over me while I work on abdominals. Love you too Chloe!

*Saturday - 30 min on elliptical, 20 min running on treadmill. I have a professed dislike of elliptical machines but this one was really good (Star Trac Natural Runner). The only think that I'd probably say is that I'd prefer if the handles moved.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Apparently Exercise is Negotiable Week of December 22 - 27

So, no exercise Sunday or Monday. Parents were visiting. Didn't get home from church until 3:20pm on Sunday, That totally killed our day. We got a couple more inches of snow, but fortunately, it was so windy that most of the new accumulation blew off of the driveway and walk.
Gonna get exercise in every remaining day this week, and at least one 2-hr day.

Tuesday - Cathe Friedrich - Kick, Punch, and Crunch

Wednesday - Gilad's Bodies in Motion (X-mas eve fun!), and Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad.

Christmas - No exercise, except for the endless trips to the kitchen for cookies, candy, and the English foods basket that my sister sent me.

Friday - "21" and Total Body Sculpt Plus VI

Saturday - 5 1/4 mile run, abs, and lots of stretches. Calves are really tight

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Last Minute Gifts

Can we all agree to stop calling them last minute gifts until Dec 24th? Granted, I am a huge procrastinator, but it really annoys me when people everywhere are telling me they need to pick up 'last minute gifts' - for next week.

I plan on buying my parents last minute gifts. Meaning when they call to tell me that they're within 50 miles of my house on Saturday, I'll go out and buy their gifts.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Exercise is Non-Negotiable, December 16-20

Okay, getting a late start on this too. But, I did manage to cancel much of my sleep debt last night. Slept from 9pm to 6:50am.

Tuesday - 5 1/4 mile run on treadmill. Had lots of fun. Ran to a DJ Ted Eiel podcast (superchunk?) Look for his podcasts on itunes - they're really good.

*Wednesday - Power Hour w/ Cathe Friedrich (arms, back, abs, buns, legs)

*Thursday - Two Gilads - husband worked out with me, laughing so hard must have been good for my abs.

*Friday - Spent 2 hours shoveling 10 inch snowfall, plus 4-ft snowdrift from driveway.

*Saturday - 30 minutes spent shoveling 4-ft wide, 3 to 4-ft high wall of snow that the plow deposited across the bottom of the driveway. There is a park across the street. A park with no houses, or driveways. Can you please plow towards that side next time, thanks.
*(edited to add)

Poor Dale

So...the week's starting a little slow around here. Sunday the whole family went to church - this is a literal first for our family. My husband grew up Catholic, but not a fan. I grew up Episcopalian, but the family stopped going before I was confirmed. I went to a 'Christian' church with my friend in high school for a while but was honestly turned off to that on my first visit ("AT&T just announced that it is discontinuing it's support of Planned Parenthood, I'd like to thank everyone who made an appeal to God and sent letters to help make this happen."). Still liked the idea of the local Episcopal church, but visited and the vibe there seemed a bit tumultuous. So, for the last couple of years, we've been discussing the Ann Arbor Unitarian Universalist Church. That's where we went. It really seems to align with much of our thinking, and looking around, everyone looked like someone we already hang out with - so we're going back next week. Now my kids can't blame me for at least introducing them to religion.

Yesterday I made Pioneer Woman's Vodka Sauce. I didn't have onions, so used onion powder, and substituted Fage 0% for Heavy Cream. I also added a can of white beans (is that why my hands were swollen this morning?). In college, I worked at a restaurant (Mario & Luigi's) that had the best Vodka sauce (super spicy), we used to pool our money to share a plate of it. I was afraid of burning out the kids sinuses, so went a bit easier on the crushed red pepper. I think I could have used more, but it was still really good.

Minutes after dinner, I wanted to sleep, but managed to stay awake w/ the boys to watch the Charlie Brown movie last night (I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown). We had just read that book yesterday, so 3-y-o really liked seeing the parts that were in the book.

I don't remember Rerun from Peanuts at all growing up. My husband says that he remembers Rerun as his favorite character. He, like Rerun spent most of his young childhood on the back of his mother's bike. My favorite line last night: "Over hill, over dale. Poor Dale."

Friday, December 12, 2008

Is it Bad

To make "Sangria" with leftover Shiraz and Honest Kids Tropical Punch?

Husband and I are about to find out. How does that go with sirloin?

Thursday, December 11, 2008

One month

After a month, all I really have to say today is to get yourself in front of NBC at 9:30, Elaine Stritch is back on 30 Rock tonight, and she is amazing.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Tree is Trying to Kill Me

Okay, I have the tree 3/4 of the way up and apparently 20 strand of lights are not enough!
At about 3:15am (because I procrastinated by organizing photos on the computer), I realized that I was a bit too charitable with the lights, and will have to find a way to pull a strand or two out of the tree.

Also: realized that I'm not a big fan of Christmas music. I'd rather sing along to Pete Yorn.

So now, I'm avoiding the work, and thanks but no I can't just pick up another strand or two of lights because these lights are clear/white/orange and look like candle light. I'm tempted to pull a strand(*or three) from the back (below window level and replace them with a clear strand).

*That's what I did. Plus, while I was out, dog that wouldn't poop before we left pooped in her crate.......and ate it. Sh** burps actually smell worse than actual sh**!!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Tree Day

Putting up the Christmas tree tonight. Original plan was day after Thanksgiving, but needed to wait for husband to bring in sandbags so that I could put the base of the tree in a large planter (you know, sometimes it takes a few weeks for that to happen). In the meantime, went to Bordine's and they had beautiful (fake) trees. I was about two seconds away from replacing our 10-year-old tree (that takes me all day to put up) when I realized that it didn't have LED lights. Bad store!

They did have other trees with LED's, but not any of the trees that I liked. So, I went to Michael's - spent $99 on silk stems and tabletop pieces from the Metallic Shimmer collection (50% off + 25% off coupon). I'll have to add some silk stems to the old tree to hide its infernal ugliness. I'll try to post some pictures of the finished product.

Exercise is Non-Negotiable, December 7-12

Okay, so I forgot to take a day off yesterday. I was so excited that my husband was going to exercise with me that I forgot Sunday's my day off. So - looking for 6 day this week (maybe 7 with Sun). Two days on the treadmill, and one double day. Here's how it looks:

Sunday - Cathe Friedrich's Kick Punch and Crunch. Could not stop laughing at my husband at one point where we do these wide "straddle leaps" (don't know what they're called). Not his most coordinated or masculine moment. Sorry T, that I had to stop the workout to go pee.

Monday - Steve Ross' Inhale. Knew it would be an intense day when we started with tree pose. Really good and relaxing today.

*Tuesday - Day off. Working on two hours of sleep, finishing tree, and bathing stinky dog - I thought it best to put my focus elsewhere today.

*Wed - Total Body Sculpt with Gilad (X2). Arms,back,thighs,abs

*Thurs - No exercise/ there goes my six days this week.

*Fri - Two episodes of Total Body Sculpt with Gilad

*Sat - 5 miles on the treadmill, then abs before stretching

*(edited to add)

Saturday, December 6, 2008

I Love My Husband

For telling me exactly what I wanted to hear. Last night at 10:30, I complained that I had wanted to work-out 6 days this week, but was just going to go to bed. He said, "How about one Gilad?"

That's all I needed to hear. I put in a ponytail, turned on Gilad and did two shows!
He knows me so well, and I want to thank him for giving me the spark to get going.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Exercise is Non-Negotiable, December 1-6

So, the target for this week is 6 days of exercise, and at least one session on the treadmill (or at the track weather permitting). One double day needs to be in the mix this week too.

Monday - Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad (Bum, thighs, arms, abs). Also, took 3-y-o out in snow to play for 2 hours! Dragged the sled (with him in it) up and down the hills behind the house, then across the street, down through the unshoveled sidewalks on the block, around the park, and back home to shovel the driveway and sidewalk.

*Tuesday - P90X Plyometrics with hubby, then some abs.

*Wednesday - Cathe Friedrich Pyramid Upper Body and Core Max 3

*Thursday - Gilad's Total Body Sculpt Plus V DVR'd from FitTV. The workouts in Total Body Sculpt are consistently more challenging to me than the P90X workouts.

*Friday - Gilad "Shoulders and Abs II" and Gilad's Total Body Sculpt -"Inner Thighs, Abs, and Back." TBS used medicine ball, lighter and heavier weights.
Favorite today were the punching and knee combo.

*Saturday - 5 mile run (on treadmill) - did a couple of high/fast intervals to keep it interesting.

*(edited to add)

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Nutrition / fitness Week in Review - Nov 30

Okay, as far as exercise goes, I did okay last week. I planned for six days of activity - hoping to get in a two-hour day. That didn't happen. I exercised 5 days this week, with no running, and no double days. I did get off of my ass enough to get a couple of really good workouts in (especially Kick, Punch, and Crunch). Also, despite feeling sick as a dog yesterday, I managed to complete a yoga workout (Inhale DVR'd from Oxygen). (Putting things in perspective, Steve Ross, the inspirational host of Inhale was in Mumbai last week. My thoughts are with him and everyone affected by the terrorist attacks there).

Nutrition is different altogether. I ate (almost) two huge Symphony bars. One I bought in preparation for making these chocolate chip cookies (awesome recipe, when I make it I use more oats, fewer pecans). When my husband and I shared the bar instead, I decided to use leftover chocolate from the kids' Halloween haul. Husband didn't love that idea, so he bought another (which I ate in protest). Also didn't journal anything this week, and I probably didn't eat enough veggies most days. Also: feeling crappy + pretzels and other junk food in house = me feeling crappier having eaten most of the junk myself.

This being almost on plan is not good enough.


Going back to Weight Watchers

I know that there are so many people who can't stand Weight Watcher's, but it's what's kept 40 lbs (officially) off of my body for almost two years. Why I'm going back? I need to get rid of the 10 lbs that keeps me from my ideal weight, and the weekly meeting makes me more able to do that. Does it mean that I'm going to have to sit through someone feeling sorry for themselves for gaining .5 lbs? Yes, and it also means that I get to listen to people raving about making baked goods from a mountain of artificial sweetener :P The meetings are also a place where every week, someone is doing something inspirational to make their lives more healthy, satisfying, and rewarding.

The things I take away from a WW meeting?

  • On Plan (or Perfectly On Plan), we have infinity ways to make weightloss work for us.
  • The leader/members give me food for thought in some aspect of my weightloss journey that I'm not necessarily thinking about.
  • I get an hour to focus on my priority of being healthy.
  • Time "alone" (without husband or kids, and outside of the house!).
  • After meeting grocery run (without kids or husband).
As sad as it sounds, because of my husband's industry there is no way of knowing what his schedule is going to be in a given week, except that it will be 50 hours minimum; the last three on the list are pretty important to me. Aside from the time it takes to get my haircut every six weeks, I do not get to leave the house alone - ever. When I have a WW meeting to go to, somehow my husband is able to get it together enough almost every week to meet me at the center at 7pm. The time that I get at the meeting helps me really refocus on what my goals for the week are going to be. Also, grocery shopping right after a meeting ensures fresh produce at least once per week, and I get through the store so much more quickly when I'm going solo.

So, I'll weigh myself tomorrow to see where I am, and hopefully I'll be going to a meeting this week. I know that they'll be bringing in any new changes on Dec 7th, so I'd like to go back to see what the changes are anyway.


Friday, November 28, 2008

Loving

So, C exercised with us yesterday, and it was a pretty good workout. C is a master at all pushups. We did regular, tricep pushups, and planks - he had perfect form for all of them. Last week he did a P90X workout w/ his dad, so he did something like 150 pushups - all with perfect form. Once I get to about 16, it's all girl push-ups for me.

C was mad at me when he woke up Thursday morning because I told him that he could exercise with me Wed, then I got caught up cleaning and stressing and never worked out.

Wednesday morning, before the older kids got up, Hubby and I watched How I Met Your Mother on the DVR. It was an episode about a dating technique called "The Naked Man." Three-year-old came downstairs while it was on, and went behind the couch to play with his cars. As the show ended, 3-y-o came running from behind the couch wearing only his underwear and a big smile saying, "I'm the naked man!" Great parenting Mom and Dad! But, it was adorable.

Hating

Clipping my dog's nails.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Exercise is Non-Negotiable November 24-29

Okay, my goal is to work out 6 days this week; even on Thanksgiving. I already worked out today, so here's how my week looks:

Monday - P90X plyometrics workout with husband T. It is my favorite of all of the P90X workouts - so I sucked it up and woke at 5:20 to workout before helping the boys get ready for school.

*Tuesday Nov 25 - Power Hour w/ Cathe Friedrich. Husband and oldest son joined me. And of course, as always, the dog joined us for ab work -to lay on top of us.

*Wed Nov 26 - No exercise :( I don't know if my shoulder is still sore from tetanus shot over a week ago, or if I did something to it. This has nothing to do with the fact that I was too lazy to exercise, then decided to go to bed early (10:30) so I could avoid vacuuming the couch until tomorrow.

*Thurs Nov 27 - Total Body Sculpt Plus IV (Gilad). Seven-year-old did the entire workout with me and husband.

*Fri Nov 28 - Kick, Punch, and Crunch (Cathe Friedrich) DVR'd from FitTV. I LOVE this workout! Some of the kicks are a little hard to keep up w/ 100%, but when I'm done, I'm sweaty, tired, and smiling. Thanks for a great workout Cathe. Plus - it was my first solo workout in a few days and I have to say that sometimes I prefer working out by myself.

*Sat Nov 29 - Dude, what is up with 7-y-o? He did yoga with me (Inhale) and hung with it for the entire hour. Sure there are a few form issues, but he really did a great job.

*(edited to add)

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Loving

My husband went on a work trip to NYC this week. As much as we all missed him, why is it that everything runs so smoothly when he's out of town?

When he got home yesterday, he surprised me with a bottle of Narciso Rodriguez perfume. It's been a recent obsession for me - I can't wait to wear it tomorrow. You Rock T!

I saw a really cute pair of shooties at DSW for a pretty good price. They were pretty plain with a platform front - essential for me in winter to keep my toes a bit further away from the cold, cold ground. They were still a bit more than I wanted to pay so I thought I'd check out what I could find at TJ Maxx. They had the same shoes for $30 less! I wore them to the mall today (they are so comfortable even with the 4 inch heel!), and was complimented on them by two different people.

Climb to the Top

7-y-o has been trying to climb to the top of the rope in gymnastics for a couple of weeks now (I think it's 15-20 ft high). For added incentive, I told him and his brother that when they make it to the top, I'll take them out for an ice-cream sundae. Wouldn't you know that the week after I throw down the challenge, C crushed it! He made it to the top of the rope on his first try. As per C's wishes, we had a sundae bar at home right after we picked up his new skis. If the weather holds up tomorrow, I think that we'll definitely be using the new skis.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Exercise is Non-Negotiable November 17 - 22

Monday - 60 minutes on treadmill 5.09 miles running/ walking intervals @2pm. Nothing like being 5 minutes late to pick up my kids from school because I was running :) Playlist is all over the place - time to make a new one!

*Tuesday - "Bootcamp" w/ Cathe Friedrich. Sumo Squats almost did me in today. Fun and Exhausting (1 hr).

*Wednesday - Total Body Sculpt Plus II (Gilad) - arm is still soooo sore from Tetanus shot yesterday (1 hr).

*Thursday - Day off, went to bed early to get some sleep, dog woke me up four times wagging her tail and jumping up to bump her nose into my face - aargh!

*Friday - Total Body Sculpt Plus III - so, so many lunges. Got my husband to work out w/ me (by asking incessantly, putting his shoes next to him, putting the workout on the plasma, doing handstands until he finally relented were a few of my methods to get him to agree).

*Saturday - Cardio Blast (Cathe Friedrich) "Muscle Endurance." One of the less challenging Cathe Friedrich workouts. Four days later tetanus shot still hurts.

*(edited to add)

Friday, November 14, 2008

Purple Heart

Okay, this is kind of weird. I've kind of been on an emotional high since Nov. 4 , and all sorts of things are getting done much better and faster than usual at the p/f house. I've made all of the random last doctor, dentist, vet, eye appointments for the year. My son broke his glasses (again) and they've given him ANOTHER free pair (yay Costco!). Homework is getting done quickly and without incident, and it is actually making it from his planner to the teacher's basket on the first day he brings it to school. My kitchen hasn't looked better in months, except for the fact that we still have an improbable island completely blocking any traffic flow, I swear one day soon, I'm going to cut off the power to the island and take it out myself.

Anyway, I had just pulled out a Rubbermaid tote full of the last of G's baby clothes, and was getting ready to take them to the Salvation Army when the phone rang. Purple Heart was coming the next day, and did I have anything that I wanted to leave out for donation? Really? All I had to do was bag them and they'd pick them up on my front porch.

Even though I have no trouble with Oprah, I am kind of bandwagon resistant and get annoyed each time a book I'm about to read winds up in her bookclub (or that I was totally going to buy A Stroke of Insight before it was on her show, now I feel meh about it - sort of like how the popularity of the song Stand ruined R.E.M. for me).

But Law of Attraction people? It is working.

Let it go

Really, it is time. In May, I had maintained a 50 lb. weight loss for 1 1/2 years. I was feeling really good about my body, and I ran in my first 5k on Mother's Day. My birthday was in two days, and I was excited because I was going to run in another 5k on my birthday.

I had just picked the kids up from school, and was waiting to turn left into my subdivision. We live just off of a really busy road, with a 55 mph speed limit. There's a lane to the right of me for cars to pass, and five cars went by as I waited for the mile-long line of cars to clear to the left of me. All of the sudden, without a squeal of tires there was a huge, ear shattering crack. We were suddenly turned 3/4 of the way around in the oncoming lane of traffic. By some miracle, my front bumper followed the last oncoming car, and the next car was far enough away to barely come to a stop just feet away from my rear bumper. The car that hit me was 20 feet beyond the accident site and was in bad shape. The two passengers climbed out, but the driver was trapped inside the car. My toddler was screaming, I jumped out of the car to see if they were okay. Half a dozen neighbors came running down to help, most of them had been waiting for the bus to drop their kids off from school. My kids were okay, none were hurt.They were either in a car seat or a high-backed booster (even the 8-y-o). My middle son, in the back seat on the passenger's side, was pelted with my sunglasses, which had flown off my face; his older brother's eyeglasses, and both of his little brother's shoes (they were knocked off by the force of the impact). To get them away from the busy road, my neighbor took them to her house until police and ambulance arrived.

There was heavy traffic on both sides of the road, I was able to get my SUV onto the shoulder, but I wasn't able to go over to the other car to check on the girl, I was really worried about her. She left in the ambulance with her two friends. The woman in the car that followed the girl said that she was in shock because she saw that the girl wasn't slowing down at all, and she had seen my car stopped with the turn signal on from the top of the hill, 1/2 mile away. I found out later that the girl was a track star coming home from practice, and she shattered the bones in her ankle and foot. She probably destroyed any chance for a running career in college. I understand being a teenager, and how maybe you're not paying attention the way that you should be, and it changes the entire course of your life. Her car was destroyed, the people who looked at my destroyed truck said that the entire frame was twisted and that they were amazed that no one in the truck was injured.

I was relieved that I only had a bump on my leg, and some bruises along my back and on my stomach, a tiny cut from the sunglasses on my face. I was relieved that the girl wasn't critically injured, I was thankful that my kids were okay, except that my potty-trained 2 1/2 year old wasn't potty trained any more. I was also angry that I was very sore and bruised for weeks because a girl wasn't paying attention on a very busy road. I was haunted because there was nothing I could do to avoid being hit. What if the boys had been hurt, or killed? This accident where no one was thankfully seriously injured really affected me. I couldn't shake it, or the funk that followed it. I couldn't sleep for months, instead I'd lie awake listening to my husband and the dog sleep.

In three weeks following the accident, I put on 10 lbs. I could not shake them. I was not stuffing myself, in fact I was probably eating less. Even though after a few weeks, when I was given the okay to start exercising again I got right back to the same intensity and schedule the pounds still wouldn't come off. It's almost six months later, and I still have the 10 pounds - although recently I've not been accountable for my eating (and added 2 more), and I haven't been giving my all on exercise. I've been chasing some idea that would get me motivated, some new exciting exercise.

I'm letting it go.

This week it's time to really let it go and make room for the things that are actually important to me. And guess what? I've already lost two pounds.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Exercise 11/11 - 11/15

Today:
Cathe Friedrich Kick, Punch and Crunch from FitTV - I really like this workout, it definitely is challenging, especially the series of kicks during the second half of the workout.

*Wednesday - Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad (2 episodes). Lots of buns and thighs, diagonal lunges, some biceps and triceps.

*Thursday - 45 min run/walk intervals (4 miles). Not exactly as long as I wanted to go, but dog hurt her foot, had to take her to the vet.

*Friday - Cathe Friedrich Supersets from FitTV - lots of lunges, squats, arms, abs.

*Saturday - Total Body Sculpt Plus I and Stretch Max 2 (Cathe Friedrich)

*(edited to add)

New name

I'll be writing all of the rest of my posts as P/F; that way any blog related stuff can stay separate from my personal stuff.

Perfection or Failure

This seems to sum up the way that I feel I handle any challenge on any given day. I'm starting this blog to realize the balance between the two extremes, making my life (and the lives of my family) much easier. I intend to post my workouts, things I'm working on in the home (like how I've been looking for the perfect sofa for my living room - as a result, I'm still looking four years later!), and other stuff that's keeping me occupied. I can't wait to get started.