It's time to get back on the bandwagon. Although I have known for many months that I need to do something. I have only been making halfhearted efforts (or in many cases, no effort at all). When I stepped on the scale today and saw that I am only 7 lbs under my all time high, it shocked me into reality. I refuse to let myself gain any more.
The Nutrimeal shakes are a great breakfast replacement for me so I am going to continue with them. I ran out of my original supply but have acquired more and started back today with using them. I think I'm ready to make more of an effort than just that.
Now to decide. My Fitness Pal or Weight Watchers? I've done both and was far more successful with WW but I like the idea of free with MFP.
Either way, I figure if I put it out there publicly, I am more likely to stick to it.
Ok, it's out there. I started today and did well but tomorrow is my birthday. I already know where we are going for dinner and what I am going to have so I will have to behave myself for lunch and snacks and I will need to get a run in somehow to make up for birthday cake.
I'm not setting lofty goals. In fact, my initial short-term goal is simple. Be down 4 pounds before we leave on our cruise on June 3rd. It's not a lot but mentally, it brings me to a new number in the 10's column which will motivate me to keep going.
Well, I typed it, now I have to do it...
Disney 2016
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Blog Referring Sites
So I'm new to this blogging thing. Obviously.
When I look at my stats, there are several referring sites that show up quite frequently. Being the nosy person that I am, I wanted to know who they were since not that many people know I have a blog.
I asked about one of them on ROTE and no one answered so I decided to ask my good friend Google. Turns out they are spam sites.
Here's my public service announcement for the day. Don't click on the referral link, Some of them have been known to infect your computer with malware. Others use cookies to track your online activity. The referring sites that had me searching for answers are: filmhill.com, vampirestat.com, t.co.
Here is a link to the list of bad referring sites. how much spam visit your blog
Just thought I'd pass what I learned on...
When I look at my stats, there are several referring sites that show up quite frequently. Being the nosy person that I am, I wanted to know who they were since not that many people know I have a blog.
I asked about one of them on ROTE and no one answered so I decided to ask my good friend Google. Turns out they are spam sites.
Here's my public service announcement for the day. Don't click on the referral link, Some of them have been known to infect your computer with malware. Others use cookies to track your online activity. The referring sites that had me searching for answers are: filmhill.com, vampirestat.com, t.co.
Here is a link to the list of bad referring sites. how much spam visit your blog
Just thought I'd pass what I learned on...
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Life in General - Chapter 2
The next couple of months promise to contain a lot of fun but will be busy. Not crazy busy, just lots I need to be organized for and keep track of. It never fails, I always let something slip through the cracks when we near the end of the school year. With two kids graduating from two different schools, I need to be on top of things.
Bradley already registered himself for his fall classes at Moody. Think he's excited? He looked at me today and asked me if he really has to go to school for the next month. Senioritis at its best.
Matthew pointed out to me that 4 years from now, we are graduation central. Bradley will be graduating from college, Matthew will be graduating from high school and Caitlyn will be graduating from junior high. Phew!
I haven't run for 10 days. I caught a cold that seems to be gone except for a lingering lung thing. I am constantly clearing my throat and when I ran across the parking lot at work today, I coughed for about 10 minutes after. It was just a short sprint but it tells me I'm not ready to run. Part of me wonders if the lingering stuff could be allergies. Time will tell.
One benefit from the forced rest is that my left foot is doing better. If it was a mild case of tendonitis (or something else), it seems to be almost gone.
Mark is coming home tonight. He's been in Miami all week. Taunting me with pictures of the moon over the ocean, palm trees and whatever else he could find to text to me. He's home a week, then he's off to Florence, Italy. He's home for another week and he's off to China. Lots of travel for work means lots of single mom time for me. I need a dislike button for that.
Today would have been Austin's 18th birthday. I'll post more about him next week, it's just been on my mind a lot.
Guess that's it for now.
Bradley already registered himself for his fall classes at Moody. Think he's excited? He looked at me today and asked me if he really has to go to school for the next month. Senioritis at its best.
Matthew pointed out to me that 4 years from now, we are graduation central. Bradley will be graduating from college, Matthew will be graduating from high school and Caitlyn will be graduating from junior high. Phew!
I haven't run for 10 days. I caught a cold that seems to be gone except for a lingering lung thing. I am constantly clearing my throat and when I ran across the parking lot at work today, I coughed for about 10 minutes after. It was just a short sprint but it tells me I'm not ready to run. Part of me wonders if the lingering stuff could be allergies. Time will tell.
One benefit from the forced rest is that my left foot is doing better. If it was a mild case of tendonitis (or something else), it seems to be almost gone.
Mark is coming home tonight. He's been in Miami all week. Taunting me with pictures of the moon over the ocean, palm trees and whatever else he could find to text to me. He's home a week, then he's off to Florence, Italy. He's home for another week and he's off to China. Lots of travel for work means lots of single mom time for me. I need a dislike button for that.
Today would have been Austin's 18th birthday. I'll post more about him next week, it's just been on my mind a lot.
Guess that's it for now.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Back Online
It seriously feels like I've been offline for weeks. In reality it's only been 3 days.
We got a serious amount of rain a few days ago. It was accompanied by a serious amount of flooding in the area. We are fine, our house is fine, but many, many people in the area are not.
It was not a record breaking amount of rain by any means so I don't necessarily understand why the flooding was so bad. Two of my kids had school cancelled on Thursday because of the flooding. My boss texted me that they were picking up fish off of the road in front of our office that morning and many businesses closed for the day.
Our phones and our internet have been out since Thursday. A minor inconvenience compared to so many so I'm not going to complain. Especially when some people had to deal with this:
We got a serious amount of rain a few days ago. It was accompanied by a serious amount of flooding in the area. We are fine, our house is fine, but many, many people in the area are not.
It was not a record breaking amount of rain by any means so I don't necessarily understand why the flooding was so bad. Two of my kids had school cancelled on Thursday because of the flooding. My boss texted me that they were picking up fish off of the road in front of our office that morning and many businesses closed for the day.
Our phones and our internet have been out since Thursday. A minor inconvenience compared to so many so I'm not going to complain. Especially when some people had to deal with this:
This is about 2 miles from our house
It really does feel good to be re-connected though. I guess I'm more addicted to the internet than I thought. Now it's time to go catch-up on reading everyone's blog posts that I missed.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
He's Growing Up
Amidst the sorrow, questions and aftermath of the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, we received some good news today.
Bradley was accepted to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago!
It just hit me square in the face. My baby has grown up.
It is such a bittersweet feeling. On one hand, I am so proud of him. He is such an incredible kid and we are so proud of the man he is becoming. I really think if every parent had a teenager as awesome as he is, they wouldn't dread the teen years even a little bit. We are so blessed.
The downside? He's grown up. In less than a month, he will turn 18. In just over a month, he will graduate from high school. In 4 months, we will be dropping him off at college. Where have the years gone?
He has wanted to go to Moody for years. It's the only college he applied to. He had a Plan B and even a Plan C but he really wasn't all that interested in those. Today one of his dreams came true.
I couldn't be happier for him. I'll just miss him.
Bradley was accepted to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago!
It just hit me square in the face. My baby has grown up.
It is such a bittersweet feeling. On one hand, I am so proud of him. He is such an incredible kid and we are so proud of the man he is becoming. I really think if every parent had a teenager as awesome as he is, they wouldn't dread the teen years even a little bit. We are so blessed.
The downside? He's grown up. In less than a month, he will turn 18. In just over a month, he will graduate from high school. In 4 months, we will be dropping him off at college. Where have the years gone?
He has wanted to go to Moody for years. It's the only college he applied to. He had a Plan B and even a Plan C but he really wasn't all that interested in those. Today one of his dreams came true.
I couldn't be happier for him. I'll just miss him.
I miss these years
I'm not sure you can read the caption well but this is Bradley working the lighting board at church.
I can't wait to see where life takes him. Love you Bradley!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Boston
I don't even have words, not that I could say anything that hasn't already been said. I haven't been able to watch coverage because my kids are here and I don't feel like they need to watch it. My heart breaks for those involved. Some of my running friends were running Boston today and a couple of them were too close for comfort.
Keeping everyone affected in my prayers. Time to go run.
Keeping everyone affected in my prayers. Time to go run.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
130 Days
Today marks 130 days of either walking or running at least a mile.
Back in December, my friend Jenny (run-halfway) started a mile-a-day challenge. The goal was to go all 31 days in December with walking or running a minimum of a mile each day. I was hesitant to join in, knowing that it was such a busy month and I just didn't know if I could actually fit it in EVERY day.
I finally decided to commit and join in. I finished December strong and joined in on the January challenge she posted. I finished the January challenge and by that time, I think I had created a habit because I just kept going, even without any challenges.
130 days later, I can't seem to let myself stop. Some days have been easy. I've run 2 marathons, a half marathon, and at least two 20 mile training runs, not to mention all of my regular 2-3 mile runs. Other days have been tough. One day last week, I barely squeaked in my mile, finishing it at something like 11:50pm. I would say that the vast majority of the days have been walking at a slowish pace so as not to require another shower when I was done.
As much as I like this new habit, I feel like it may be time to change it up. I'm thinking I should allow myself to use the equivalent amount of time it would take to walk a mile to lift weights or cross train in some way.
Problem is that I'm afraid I won't really do it. I'm afraid if I allow myself to stop walking/running each day, I'll sit on the couch and ignore the cross training.
I'm open to suggestions as to how to ensure this doesn't happen. Maybe one of these days, I will actually make the change.
Back in December, my friend Jenny (run-halfway) started a mile-a-day challenge. The goal was to go all 31 days in December with walking or running a minimum of a mile each day. I was hesitant to join in, knowing that it was such a busy month and I just didn't know if I could actually fit it in EVERY day.
I finally decided to commit and join in. I finished December strong and joined in on the January challenge she posted. I finished the January challenge and by that time, I think I had created a habit because I just kept going, even without any challenges.
130 days later, I can't seem to let myself stop. Some days have been easy. I've run 2 marathons, a half marathon, and at least two 20 mile training runs, not to mention all of my regular 2-3 mile runs. Other days have been tough. One day last week, I barely squeaked in my mile, finishing it at something like 11:50pm. I would say that the vast majority of the days have been walking at a slowish pace so as not to require another shower when I was done.
As much as I like this new habit, I feel like it may be time to change it up. I'm thinking I should allow myself to use the equivalent amount of time it would take to walk a mile to lift weights or cross train in some way.
Problem is that I'm afraid I won't really do it. I'm afraid if I allow myself to stop walking/running each day, I'll sit on the couch and ignore the cross training.
I'm open to suggestions as to how to ensure this doesn't happen. Maybe one of these days, I will actually make the change.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Life in General
My head is spinning. Lots going on.
Tickets to Vietnam were purchased today. It's official. It was before too but there's something about making that financial commitment that makes it more real. I need to look into getting shots soon. Yuck.
Mark is in Orlando. I miss him and I wish I could be there. I packed his annual pass and told him to head to Disney if he gets a chance. I know I would. Maybe he'll have a Dole Whip for me. Yum.
I saw several Facebook statuses that make me sad. Friends losing loved ones, friends children in unsafe conditions. Couple that with some things happening at work and it made for a stressful day. Chocolate cake and crying didn't even help.
We are checking the mail every day hoping for an acceptance letter for Bradley from Moody. I think I may be more anxious than Bradley. We should know within the next 2 weeks, probably sooner.
I ran twice this past weekend. I had considered taping my foot with KT Tape but decided to just run and see what happened. I did 3.5 miles on Friday and 3 miles on Saturday and there was almost no pain while I ran and it didn't feel any worse after. If it is tendonitis, it has to be a very mild case. It felt great to run outside with the sun shining on me.
I guess that's all I've got. It felt like more when it was all swirling around in my head...
Tickets to Vietnam were purchased today. It's official. It was before too but there's something about making that financial commitment that makes it more real. I need to look into getting shots soon. Yuck.
Mark is in Orlando. I miss him and I wish I could be there. I packed his annual pass and told him to head to Disney if he gets a chance. I know I would. Maybe he'll have a Dole Whip for me. Yum.
I saw several Facebook statuses that make me sad. Friends losing loved ones, friends children in unsafe conditions. Couple that with some things happening at work and it made for a stressful day. Chocolate cake and crying didn't even help.
We are checking the mail every day hoping for an acceptance letter for Bradley from Moody. I think I may be more anxious than Bradley. We should know within the next 2 weeks, probably sooner.
I ran twice this past weekend. I had considered taping my foot with KT Tape but decided to just run and see what happened. I did 3.5 miles on Friday and 3 miles on Saturday and there was almost no pain while I ran and it didn't feel any worse after. If it is tendonitis, it has to be a very mild case. It felt great to run outside with the sun shining on me.
I guess that's all I've got. It felt like more when it was all swirling around in my head...
Friday, April 5, 2013
Nutrimeal Update
Well, I've been doing the Nutrimeal meal replacement shakes for the last 12 days. To be completely honest, I missed 2 days of using them for breakfast. One day (Easter Sunday) I ended up eating a donut. Very bad substitution but it was what was available and I was hungry. The other day, I was so busy I didn't take the time and I just ended up skipping breakfast.
The question is, how's it going?
It's going well. Most days, the shake is enough to last till lunch. I do get hungry a little earlier but eating at noon instead of 12:30-1 is probably better anyway. Other days, I have found myself wanting a snack about mid-morning. I have been making sure to pack a hardboiled egg or some slices of lunchmeat/cheese as a snack.
12 days in and I am down 2 pounds. Could be coincidence but it's enough for me to keep going with it. I initially bought an 18 day supply and I've used 10 days. I ordered 3 packs of it (27 days) yesterday so they should be here in time for me to continue going with it.
The next step is getting my lunches and dinners in order and monitoring my portion control.
Small steps but I'm taking them. I can't wait for my foot to be better so I can really run and burn some calories. I'm thinking of trying some KT Tape for my foot and trying to run today. It's sunny and it's supposed to be almost 50, perfect running weather.
The question is, how's it going?
It's going well. Most days, the shake is enough to last till lunch. I do get hungry a little earlier but eating at noon instead of 12:30-1 is probably better anyway. Other days, I have found myself wanting a snack about mid-morning. I have been making sure to pack a hardboiled egg or some slices of lunchmeat/cheese as a snack.
12 days in and I am down 2 pounds. Could be coincidence but it's enough for me to keep going with it. I initially bought an 18 day supply and I've used 10 days. I ordered 3 packs of it (27 days) yesterday so they should be here in time for me to continue going with it.
The next step is getting my lunches and dinners in order and monitoring my portion control.
Small steps but I'm taking them. I can't wait for my foot to be better so I can really run and burn some calories. I'm thinking of trying some KT Tape for my foot and trying to run today. It's sunny and it's supposed to be almost 50, perfect running weather.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Tendonitis
I think I may be developing Tendonitis. I have pain on the top, outside edge of my left foot. It started a few weeks ago, right around the time I discovered that walking on an incline burns far more calories than walking on a flat surface.
I haven't been running on it in order to rest it but I have still been walking at least a mile a day (still on an incline). It seems like it might be getting worse.
I miss running and I really need the stress release. Do I just run through it?
I haven't been running on it in order to rest it but I have still been walking at least a mile a day (still on an incline). It seems like it might be getting worse.
I miss running and I really need the stress release. Do I just run through it?
Monday, April 1, 2013
Vietnam
I'm heading to Vietnam.
Oh my, what have I gotten myself in to?
Last week, I was approached by one of our pastors at church. He asked me if I would be interested in traveling to Vietnam at the end of June.
Why? What for?
This past year, our church and some of the missionaries we support, partnered with Awana International, to plant the first ever Awana Clubs in Vietnam. This trip is a follow up to visit those clubs to see how they are doing.
Why me?
Seriously. Why me? Well, for one, I am a huge fan of Awana. I attended an Awana Club from 3rd grade through 6th grade and I cannot even begin to explain how it impacted my life. I've been a volunteer in Awana for about 20 years. The goal is to continue on and potentially plant Awana Clubs in other SE Asian countries. How exciting to be asked to be involved in that!
This is just the beginning, I can't wait to see where this road leads...
Oh my, what have I gotten myself in to?
Last week, I was approached by one of our pastors at church. He asked me if I would be interested in traveling to Vietnam at the end of June.
Why? What for?
This past year, our church and some of the missionaries we support, partnered with Awana International, to plant the first ever Awana Clubs in Vietnam. This trip is a follow up to visit those clubs to see how they are doing.
Why me?
Seriously. Why me? Well, for one, I am a huge fan of Awana. I attended an Awana Club from 3rd grade through 6th grade and I cannot even begin to explain how it impacted my life. I've been a volunteer in Awana for about 20 years. The goal is to continue on and potentially plant Awana Clubs in other SE Asian countries. How exciting to be asked to be involved in that!
This is just the beginning, I can't wait to see where this road leads...
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