Around and around and around...

If you haven't figured it out yet, if I'm not blogging, it usually means I'm keeping on track with my workouts.  If I have time to blog, I didn't work out.  =)  Today is a rest day, since I walked 10 miles yesterday. 



I was feeling a little pressed for time, so instead of my normal trails, I opted for the high school track because it was much closer.  I haven't walked long distance on the track.... you can do the math.  1/4 mile track.  10 miles.  That's 40 laps.  Well, actually, it was 38 because I kept switching lanes and the outer lanes are obviously longer.  It was daunting, to say the least.  I thought it would be so boring that I wouldn't be able to finish, but it wasn't bad at all.  Yeah, no change in scenery, but my pace was faster and I didn't have to carry my water bottle and hoodie when I got hot.



Next weekend is a 12 mile walk.  The half-marathon is in less than a month!  March 3rd.  A while back, I took the next day off of work, thinking I'd be just a sore mess after the marathon, but I don't get sore anymore.  I may still take the day off anyway, just as a reward =)

I've lost a total of 23 lbs so far.  6 for this year's goal of 50.  Eating mostly Paleo.  The weekends tend to get me.... it requires so much prep and cooking and when I have a busy weekend, things go off track.  But I feel like my body is changing a lot lately.  I plan on taking measurements tomorrow, maybe pictures (sorry, not gonna share... not ready for THAT).

And, in other news...

I'm working on an afghan for Isabelle.  My original plan was really elaborate.  Sock monkey theme with Tunisian crochet color work.  I got into it and realized pretty quickly that I was going to HATE working on it.  It was just too much.  So, since this is for Isabelle and she loves granny squares, I'm making a giant granny square afghan in sock money colors.  She's loving it so far.  I'm going to make the square until it's wide enough and then add stripes to the top and bottom until it's long enough. 



I had planned on adding 30 roses to my Rose Field throw in January and I think I managed 6.  Crocheting and blogging both suffer when I am working out regularly!

Almost a week in

Did I mention that I'm doing a Biggest Loser competition with my sister, her friend, and a bunch of people I don't know?  Well, I am.  Last Friday was our starting weigh in.  I was 250.4, which is up from where I was a month ago.  I got a new scale for the house because I never trusted the old one and I felt weird weighing at work.  So I get decimals now!

We started eating Paleo (or Primal... I don't really know the difference, I think it's just semantics) on Monday and this week hasn't been as rough as I had anticipated.  Yes, I've been really cranky on occasion.  Yes, I've been kind of tired.  But not as bad as I thought.  And it's not been that difficult to stick to.  The girls are still mad about it.  They feel like I'm starving them because they want cookies and chicken nuggets and cereal.  They'll adjust.  But I haven't had any big cravings or felt like I was going to kill someone over a cookie or anything.  I have felt like killing people, but it had nothing to do with cookies.

The worst parts are #1 - black coffee and #2 - I have to pee all the time.  I will either learn to like coffee without sugar and creamer or I'll just give it up, so that's not that big of a deal.  And the bathroom breaks are just my body letting go of water weight since I've drastically reduced my sodium intake (processed foods have tons of sodium) and that will level off.  Soon, I hope.

The best part....  my weigh in this morning.  245.2.  I know most of that is water weight, and I don't expect such a huge loss all the time, but you better believe I'm stoked about it.  I haven't been able to get past my 20 lb mark since I hit it, so I'm very happy to be almost 22 lbs down now.

I'm currently in 2nd place in our Biggest Loser competition!  Of course, it's winner take all, so 2nd is no better than last competition-wise, but it works for bragging rights.  =)

I am in the process of making a little motivation board, and I have part of it up.  I was really happy to get to use it this morning...



There are 50 clothes pins total (and they're so teeny tiny and cute!)... 50 lbs gets me to my goal for my birthday of hitting 200 (actually it's below 200, but the package only had 50 pins).  I'll still have about 50 more pounds to go, give or take depending on how I feel when I get closer to that.

So, things are going well, and hopefully will just keep getting better.  I haven't touched a hook all week, which is a bummer, but the living room has been a wreck and I just haven't even wanted to deal with it.  Tomorrow I'll get it straightened up and hopefully find some time to sit back and work on something.

Why does it have to end?

I took this week off of work.  We didn't go on vacation or anything, I just needed a break.  I had these grandiose plans of purging the house, getting it all clean and sparkly and organized.

Well, my bathroom is clean.  Mostly.  And you can see more of my bedroom floor.  That's about it.

Monday, I spent the day with my husband.  We don't ever get time alone, but all the girls were in school, and it's the one day he's good and awake during the day, so we ran around, had lunch, and just spent time together.



I promise he enjoyed himself more than the picture lets on.  He was distracted by a bag of turkey jerky.  And can I just say that turkey jerky smells horrible?  He opened it up in the van and I almost had to pull over and let the two of them walk home together.

Tuesday, I needed to get my 8 mile walk in.  I kept putting it off, and just had to get it done.  I was nervous, because my last 8 mile attempt didn't go so well.  But it was a gorgeous morning....



... and my ankle didn't give me problems at all.  I even had a slightly better time than normal.  3.8mph instead of 3.7.  =)

Wednesday, I finally got to spend the day cleaning.  Not that you can really tell, but I felt like I busted my butt all day.  As a reward, this came...



It's time to begin the Sock Monkey blanket!  I'm pretty much making this up as I go, so let's hope it goes well.

Then today was a total bust.  The girls had an awards assembly this morning.


Olivia got Principal's Honor Roll (all A's), Accelerated Reader, and Citizenship
 

Isabelle got AB Honor Roll and Citizenship

I didn't get home until after 10am, and it's been really dreary and rainy... I've been stressing out over things.... and I just took a nap.  A long nap.  I woke up in time to eat lunch and go pick up the kids. 

The main thing I've been stressing over is the whole going Paleo thing.  We start it on Sunday and I've been trying to prepare for it.  And then I started second-guessing, and worrying, and fretting.  I finally had my breakthrough (breakdown is probably more like it) and I'm feeling better about it again.  It's just such a huge change. 

Tomorrow is Mommy & Dodo day.  She doesn't have school on Friday, but the other two do, so we'll have some time alone.  She's the only one I ever do get time alone with.... I need to work on that.

So, I didn't get everything done that I wanted to.  Much of any of it, to be honest.  I could seriously take another week off.  Or two.  Or just never go back.  I'd rather not.  People always tell me I would get so bored being a stay at home mom.  But I don't see how I could.  I haven't even watched one minute of TV all week.  Obviously I can keep myself busy. =)  Alas... it is not in the cards for now....

Adding on..

... to my List.  (PS... I put a link up there ^ if you ever want to check up on me)

So, I told you about going Paleo in my last post.  I decided to add that to my List.  I didn't replace anything with it, so it's technically more than 37 things before 37 now, and I am sure it might grow even more, but it's my list and I can do that.  =)

I also added one other thing.



I won't go into all the details on the story, because I just finished crying and don't want to do it again.  But I'm going to make sure that once a month I am in a picture with my kids.  I have already been trying to make more of an effort to be in pictures, but this kind of drove it home.  My kids need pictures of me... whether I live to 41 or 65 or 100.  They need to see that I was there.  

I'll post them here.  In case you want to see my face, too. 

Did that just happen?

One of my 37 things is to read It Starts With Food.  I'm about halfway through it.  To be honest, I can't even remember why I picked that particular book.  It promotes a modified Paleo (Caveman) diet, and I've never had much interest in that.  It's very meat-centered, and Hello!  I'm the one who went vegetarian for a month because I don't eat much meat anyway.  But the book been absolutely fascinating to me so far.  I normally fall asleep reading non-fiction, but I'm reading this like it's a Dean Koontz novel... every chance I get I'm grabbing my Kindle and reading.  I thought, well.... maybe I should at least try the Whole30 plan.  If I don't feel amazing like they say, I don't have to continue it.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, this is a generalized run down of Paleo.... you eat a lot of meat and vegetables, some fruit, and certain healthy fats.  No sugar.  No grains.  No dairy. No processed foods.

Source: blog.emeals.com via Kaia on Pinterest

I've come to a point in my whole weight-loss quest that I don't flip out over cutting something out that I love.... if there is a benefit to it, I'll try it.  They give very interesting reasons for not eating the things they restrict you from.  If it actually is as beneficial as they state, it would be worth not eating some of my favorite things (Craisins... I love you, but alas, you're sweetened).

I guess I'll try anything once.

I only had two things keeping me from committing to it.  #1 - they even admit that sugar withdrawal is horrid and you're going to have a bad time the first week or so.  I guess, thanks for the warning, but geez.  Not really something I would look forward to.  #2 - doing it alone in a house of people who think junk food is a food group.  I do a pretty good job staying out of the cookies and granola bars and Little Debbie, but how tempting will it be when I'm ready to stab someone for a taste of sugar?

I was going to finish the book before making the decision to commit.

Then, today, I came home from work and Bill was packing his lunch for tonight.  It wasn't very healthy, never is.  And I guess his pants were a little difficult to button today or something, because he started moaning about how he needed to do something about it.  So I just mentioned the book I'm reading and a brief rundown of what a Paleo diet is.

His eyes bulged out when I said "no dairy."  He's a farm-boy... raised on a dairy farm.  He loves cheese more than me sometimes.

But then he said it.

"I'll give it a shot."

Whaaaaaa?

Oh, the kids are going to be ticked off.  The pantry is getting emptied in the next week.  Yes, they have to go along, too.  It's going to be a bumpy ride at first, I'm positive of that.  I hope it's worth it...

2012... 2013

Today is a very special day!  Yes, it's New Year's Eve, but it's also my baby Dodo's FIFTH birthday.

How did that happen?  Five years.  Already?  It's not real.

We're not having a real celebration until next weekend, but she did get a couple things today.

Crazy Birthday Cake hat (Snappytots pattern)

Panda Bear hat (improvised)

I didn't finish her Dodo hat, but she really didn't care.  I made her some brownies and they got to enjoy some sparkling cider to celebrate her birthday and NYE.  Bill took the girls out for breakfast AND lunch today, so she was definitely spoiled all day long.

I decided to clean up my photos on the computer.  So I thought I'd share some highlights of the year...

 Started off the year by getting to go on my first (and probably only) cruise!

 Bill's Aunt and Grandmother came to visit

Isabelle turned 6 and Bill's mom and her boyfriend came to visit.

 My parents' apartment burned down.

 Our trip to Moro Bay State Park

Olivia turned 8

 The Color Run!

 Our Crazy Christmas Tree

 Snowpocalypse 2012

So... what's up for 2013?

I have an afghan in the planning stages.  I'm learning Tunisian crochet and making up my own pattern as I go along.  Because I have to be complicated like that.  It's going to be a Sock Monkey theme.  I can't wait to get started.  I'm just waiting on my yarn.  I ordered it online because JoAnns had the yarn I needed on sale and I wasn't going to make it to the store in time because of the Snowpocalypse.

I have my half-marathon training going on AND I've started Turbo Jam.  I bought a Fitbit and hope that will help to keep me on track and focused.

I want to use my phone camera less and my real camera more.

I want to just enjoy this year.  Be proud of myself.  Continue with my goals and just make this a great year.

Happy New Year to all of you.  May you make 2013 the best year of your life to date.

I've got POWER!!

So... how was your Christmas?  Did Santa bring you something nice, or were you naughty this year?  Hmmm?  I got mostly gift cards and cash.  I won't complain.  =)

We went to my parents' for Christmas Day, despite the threat of snow.  We had a good time and the girls were spoiled with a Princess Dream Castle and bows and arrows.  We left there about 5pm, and the snow had already started.  It took us THREE HOURS to get home.  It was awful.  Three hours in the van, driving 20-30 mph for 70 miles... with three over-tired, hyper kids.  Good grief.

We got home and got the kids to bed, just in time for the power to go out.  On the way home, I had noticed several friends posting on facebook about their power going out and I just had a bad, bad feeling about it.  Here in Arkansas, snow usually means massive power outages.  Because it's Arkansas and we don't prepare for this.  Our last White Christmas was probably decades ago, so no one really thought it would happen.  But it happened and shortly after getting the kids in bed... boom, no power.

We woke up chilly with a thick blanket of snow on the ground outside.  We got several inches.  I was supposed to go to work, but the roads were terrible, so I stayed home.  The girls played for about 5 minutes in it before deciding it was much prettier to look at from inside the house.  

So, we sat around all day Wednesday... no power.  I went into work for a few hours today, but came home to... no power.  Luckily, our house is really well insulated, so with that and the gas oven, we were able to keep it from being too uncomfortable inside the house.  The girls were so stir crazy that I was ready to tie them to a chair.  Then, about 8pm tonight, the lights came back on.

Such a relief!

Hopefully the road conditions will improve tomorrow so that Bill will feel safe enough to take the truck and leave me the van and I can get the girls out for a while.  But it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, so I really don't have much hope there.  We'll see...