5:30AM + Exercise = blech! Unless….

I have an alarm set on my iphone for 5:30AM…I named the alarm (a perk of the iphone alarms) Get Up and WALK…the extra motivation for walking at this time of day is that my sweet husband is going to get up and walk with me…it’s early…I’m not a fan of early…BUT…I am a HUGE fan of any quality time with my hubby and he actually suggested that we do this together (a first!) and so I shall get up…I shall walk…and I might come back here and crash after…but I’m gonna get up every morning this week at 5:30AM and WALK with my husband…so I’m off to bed now with a happy heart!

 

I’m reading…Neris and India’s Idiot-Proof Diet

So I’m slowing reading this book…At this particular time in my life I don’t have tons of time for reading…but I bought the Kindle version of this when it was on sale for my ibook ap on my iphone…it was a dollar and I thought (at the time) hmm, I’ll buy this, I might read it one day…well…I started reading it one day when I had time ALONE (a key word here) at the laundramat when our washing machine broke. I have been working my way through it ever since and I love it…now Neris and India do use a more colorful language than I might be used to BUT that being said I have laughed out loud, I have seen myself and my habits, and I have read some good advice and tips…so because of that and before I’ve finished it I’m gonna let y’all know about it…and recommend it…I’m thinking of getting a hard copy of it for the note sections and reference sections…here’s the link on Amazon

 http://www.amazon.com/Neris-Indias-Idiot-Proof-Diet-Weight-Loss/dp/0446508764

 

PS…

The picture on my desktop of my computer is me in a swimsuit at the beach last year…my son took it…he was on the beach and my husband and 2 daughters are walking in the water…it’s really a good picture composition wise…but all I see is my large arms and behind…this is motivation for me…this may not be motivation for everyone but for me when I close all my open windows and see that picture…I seriously do not want to go and dig in the pantry or open the fridge!! What kind of motivation do you use?

 

OK…

So maybe the week before my monthly monster appears AND the week that I have actually logged enough driving miles to get me from my house to Miami (quite a long drive by the way)…MAYBE this wasn’t the best week to start a diet…BUT HEY…is there ever a good week? There’s always gonna be things to trip us up, right? While I have not been completely carb free this week I have done my level best while eating on the go to eat the right things and keep the PMS chocolate cravings at bay…I haven’t been perfect but I haven’t been horrible…I have stayed away from sweets altogether…that’s a BIG DEAL for me…and most of the carbs I’ve had came in the form of things like carrots and corn…I got some potroast at a meat and 3 one day for lunch (as it sounded better than say a burger) but I’m pretty sure the pot roast gravy had flour in it and it had carrots and potatoes…and last night at my small group we had a Mexican themed supper, and having not had time for lunch yesterday I allowed myself the carbs that were included in my Mexican meal…there…I’ve said it…I have not been completely carb free this week…but I have been completely honest about it. Now…since I’ve spent so much time in my car this week I have had lots of time to think about my “failure” and decided not to call it a failure…I have done many positive things and I’m choosing to focus on those and not what I did wrong…I haven’t sat on the couch all week…I haven’t layed around the pool doing nothing…I have gotten excersise, I have eaten less on the whole and as well as I could considering I wasn’t preparing any of the food…so all in all I think the week hasn’t been a complete waste…I’ve started a process that I will improve upon next week when my life is a little more back to normal…baby steps…one at a time…day by day…
I will not allow my eating indiscretions force me to give up…
I will move more…eat less…and I will not give up!

 

Come Next Mon. (um, that’s tommorow)

So…I’m going with Atkins…well I’m going with a pretty strict Atkins diet for at least a month…protein, veggies…I will probably go against Dr. Atkins on the Splenda issue…cuz…well…I can’t live without iced tea…and iced tea without being sweet is just cold brown water…just sayin…BUT I will, like I said keep it pretty strict for at least a month to break the sugar addiction I have…not just sweets…but bread, potatoes, bread…did I mention bread…and so I’m going cold turkey…putting myself into the “Betty Ford” of eating for a month…I’ll probably be grumpy, have headaches and generally be a pill to be around for the next few days…so this will also require prayer…(if you’re reading this you can toss one up for me if you want…I won’t mind at all ;)) The one thing I don’t like about a high protein diet is how expensive it is…it’s much cheaper to have a cup of coffee with toast in the morning than to have eggs and or bacon or something…WAIT…let’s make that 2 things that I don’t like about the high protein diet…nothing you get to eat is really crunchy…it’s all quiet food…and as weird as it sounds, you start to miss eating something crunchy…but it’s only for a month…I can handle anything for a month…right? After the first month I will probably allow carbs back in, in maybe veggies and whole grains…and keep my carb intake at about 50 grams per day…

Um, and NO…I didn’t start this weekend…I needed to get groceries and put things in the house that are allowed…so…Come Next Mon. i.e. tommorow, we begin…however…I did have a bit of encouragement today…My husband picked Chinese for his Father’s Day lunch and my fortune cookie said…(see pic below)…So here we go cyber world…we’re on a diet together…

 

I need to lose weight…

no it’s more than that…I need to be healthy…I need to do something to increase the energy I have, decrease the joint pain I have and by golly feel good about putting on a pair of jeans! Don’t hear me wrong…I do not expect to become a twig in a t-shirt dress…I just want to be a normal healty size…I’m not trying to be a runway model or wear a size 0…I’m not trying to be a teenager…but a healthy grown up. One thing I really need is motivation…I want all these things listed above and don’t really have the motivation to go after those things…so I’m gonna blog about it…I’m also not a very good blogger so hopefully this will kill 2 birds with one stone…I’ll blog more often and recording my weight loss triumphs and woes and pictures (ugh!) will hopefully motivate me to continue on…I am a girl and so I don’t really want to post my weight…but I do want to lose 100 LBS so I’ll record the loss of them without posting my acutal weight…suffice it to say…it’s a lot…I saw myself all the way around the other day in a dressing room and let me tell you that was some motivation…hmm, I guess I need to keep that image in my mind…as well as the look on my face when I saw my behind! Anyhoo…here’s me…sending this out there in to the wild blue webbness…100 lbs…I suppose I should set a time limit…maybe 10 lbs per month? I don’t know…I’ll go do some research and let you know the next time…til then…step away from your computer and do something good for your heart…

 

Christmas Time is Cookie Time…

So…yes, I’m sure that I should have filled today with work work work, schoolwork, housework, and we did do some this morning…but today was about making cookies with my girls…The 2nd batch of gingerbread cookies is in the oven and the house smells heavenly…they giggled while rolling the dough and cutting the men out of it…they are sitting on pins and needles right now while waiting for decorating–the best part, and then eating…wait…that’s the best part! I don’t even care that we didn’t do history today or spend the day studying the planets or division or reading…we made Christmastime memories…how many times have I missed the opportunity to make these kind of memories because I let something else get in the way and how much longer will my girls be at an age that makes them giggle at cookie making? So today I don’t care about the mess, the flour on the floor or the accidents with the mixer when a 6 year old loses her grip on it…because today we made cookies…and long after the cookies are gone the memories will linger…

 

I HEART THIS BLOG!

Ree Drummond’s blog is like having a best friend come over for coffee…I love her recipes with pictures, her gardening stuff and her homeschooling posts…check it out…you’ll love it too!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/

 

Looking forward to Winter?

I’m a Summer and Fall kinda gal…I enjoy the things that those two season bring most of all…never had much love for the cold weather and the gray days and the chapped lips…but this morning I found myself looking out of the kitchen window at this gray day and longing for the day I’d see a few flurries out there (and wishing for a fireplace but that’s a different story)…I don’t really like winter…maybe it’s the cold or maybe because it feels like and ending to something…end of the summer, end of the year, end of life…but today I’m kinda looking forward to it, I’m putting my Christmas tree up this weekend and that’s always cheerful and makes the house feel warm and cozy…hmmm, maybe that’s it…maybe I’m longing for the cozy…those days when it’s too cold to do anything but curl up with a cup of spiced tea and a blanket and read a good book to my kids…or the cozy of Thanksgiving and Christmas and all it’s traditions…one of my fave cozy moments is Thanksgiving Day when the kids are piled on the couch with their Dad watching the parade on TV, I’m cooking in the kitchen and friends walking in the back door and the blast of cold air and then shutting out the cold and enjoying the warmth of the room and the warmth of the hearts….ahhh…maybe it’s the time together and the being close that makes me look forward to Winter…and how the cold drives us closer to one another, we snuggle more and…hmmm, this reminds me of something my pastor said last Sun.  “It is in the midst of pain that God most often and most clearly reveals His character to us”  If we think of seasons in terms of life, wouldn’t winter be the pain and the hurt and the hard stuff we have to go through..and this is when we should be snuggling with our Father…leaning on Him, resting…yes, resting…and preparing for the Spring when the new things inside us and outside in the world will start to grow…

 

 

A Day in the Life of Us…

Here’s a little photo montage of our day…they are usually non-stop, full tilt boogie til suppertime…but I’m sure there will be a day in my future when I actually say the words, “man I miss that busy chaotic time”…

the day starts with this…

a little math u see

Tues & Thurs are Apologia Science days…

trying on Halloween costumes…the Hippie

the snow princess

and Sherlock Holmes…from the new movie

then onto speech therapy for MJ

stopping at Beasley’s Yard to discuss buying straw bales…

run by Goodwill for final bits of costumes…

finding the Hub a Carnival Barker costume!

and now onto the kitchen for cooking supper…what is still a mystery!

Hope your Thursday’s have been happy…