A Little Bit About A Lot Of Things

I had to combine them.  I was getting confused with my exercise and when my weekly goals started and ended.  So I combined them! 

I’m down 2.2 this week! 

Review of Week 5 goals:

1. Get in 2 Veggies day.  I did this 6 out of 7 days

2. Journal Food.  Not so good with this one,  I did 2 1/2 out of 7

3. 4 cardio sessions 4/4! 

4. 5 mins meditation 1 out of 7.

Still doing good with my water and not eating after 9pm.  :) 

Week 6 Goals:

1. Get in 3 veggies a day.

2. Journal Food and Calories.

3. 4 Cardio and one upper and one lower weight workout.

4. 5 mins of meditation, last week I tried to do this before I got out of bed.  This didn’t work, every morning except one, I totally forgot!  I’m not sure when I’m going to do this but I’m going to figure out a time and do it the same time everyday! 

Today I’m off to Orlando.  Going to have lunch with my girlfriends and do some work!  Little man  is staying with daddy today! :) 

Off to check on you guys! :) 

Jared and I were looking through pictures yesterday.  Ah, the time flies!  Looking back on when he was 3 even 4 years old he’s changed so much.

There is one area of parenting that I think I excel.  I let him get messy!  Very messy!  I was much better at this when he was younger.  I’d put a plate of baby cereal in front of him when he was still in a high chair and I would let him have at it! :)  I read somewhere that letting kids experience different textures was good for uh,  something developmental.  But truth be told I just loved to watch him playing in the muck.  It was easy back then when I could just pluck him out of his high chair and put him right into a tub.

Now he’s much to big for me to carry at 5 1/2 he’s only 14 inches shorter than me!  Obviously he doesn’t get his height from me! :)   But I still (try to) let him get dirty as much as possible.  I do cringe as he walks to the bathroom.  Don’t touch anything!  I say.   :)  But it’s worth the mess to witness the pure delight!

So if you haven’t done it in a while, let em get messy!  It’s good for them and really, for you too!

This first picture I remember very well.  I set Jared up with some Tempura paints and I went over and sat on the couch and thumbed through a magazine.  I swear it was 5 minutes.  I look over and find this:  It’s kinda blurry I think I was laughing while taking the pic….

What’s not to like about mud and water…

More paint,  this time we started in the bathtub!

This was a concoction of water, flour and something else…very messy, very sticky, very worth it!

Have a great Friday!

Well this week down 2 pounds. 

I had a very low energy day yesterday.  Made it to the gym but it was all I could do to get through 30 mins on the elliptical.  It was a very mild work out, I barely broke a sweat!  Today will be better.

I checked some books out at the library,  one of them, Cool Parent 101 Fun Things to Make your kid say wow! It’s an awesome book.  I found one suggestion (I’m sure there’s more) that isn’t just for families with kids.  It’s called The Box Project www.boxproject.org.   Basically they match your family up with a  needy sister family  in an area of rural poverty in America and once a month you send this family a box of supplies.  The box can be filled with gently-used clothes, food, books, pencils, art materials and so on.  If you do have children you can request a family that has children near your childs age.  The two families also exchange letters and photos.  This charity has been around since 1962.  It’s located in Ormond Beach Florida and I’m surprised that I’ve never heard of them.  You should check them out.

Another one of the projects that looks very fun, but I don’t want in my house, is a home made Ant Habitat.   I’m not digging the piece of paper over the top of the jar with a rubber band around it….I’m thinking I’ll wake up with ants in my pants!

I love the library, I also got out some books on canning and preserving food and one on green smoothies!  I haven’t looked at that one yet, but I’m hoping to find some good smoothie recipes in that book!  I’ll share if I do!

I’ve decided to combine these posts .  I’m very happy with the progress I made this past week.

Before I get into the goals, I want to thank my blogger buddy over at  Weight by the SeaShore.  She left a very thought provoking comment last week on my Weigh in Weds post .    I was talking about being more honest with myself and being kinder to myself and she had this to say: “I think it’s important to remember that being honest with yourself is the same as being kind to yourself. The sort of ‘kindness’ that is actually self-deception is, in fact, being mean to yourself. You know? Adopting a healthy way of living your life is a gift you give to yourself, not a punishment.”

Too many times in the past I’ve looked at a healthy lifestyle as a form of punishment.  But if I  look deep down,  when I stop exercising and start over indulging and gaining weight that is punishing myself.   I’m not trying to nurture myself when I eat an obscene amount  of ice cream in one sitting.  I’m subconsciously trying to hurt myself.    I’ve written this comment in my journal AND my goal book as a constant reminder of this.

As for my goals:

Review wk 4

1. 8-8oz glasses of water a day  6/7 days!!

2. Eat Breakfast/lunch at table with no distractions.  1/14 meals  I’m gonna step away from this one for a week.

3. Journal food calories  5 1/2 days out of 7  Yay!

4. 3 Sessions cardio 3/3 Yay!

5. 5 mins peaceful/meditation time for me 1/7 days rethinking this one as well.

Goals for wk 5

1.  Get in two servings of veggies a day.

2. Journal food calories

3. 4 Cardio sessions T, W, Th and Fri at 3:30pm if J can’t come with me go before Frank goes to work around 6am.

4. 5 mins a day meditation.  I obviously need to get more specific with this one.  I’m taking the time first thing in the morning.  Before I get out of bed.  Just take some time for deep breathing  and  quiet thought!

Goals that are pretty much habit

1. no soda! 

2. No eating after 9! 

3. Trying on my smaller jeans

4. Drinking my water!

Oh if anyone reading has a spark page on sparkpeople.com  please friend me.   My user name is skeet57.  :)

Well I don’t have much to post, except that I’m seeing improvement on my goals! ;)  That’s a good thing.

I set up an art area for Jared.  Our apartment is so teeny tiny.  Space is a premium.  Jared loves to draw, color, paint, you name it.  I noticed that he wasn’t doing much of it and thought to myself, well you don’t like having to drag all your crafty stuff out and then put it away, why would he.  So here it is his own little area to leave as he wants!

I can tell that he REALLY likes it because he was cleaning everything off.   Wiping it all down, including the table.  So cute!  He organized it.  It’s just how he wants it.  Everyday I have been rewarded with some type of art.  If anybody is still reading….take a look:

This is a long neck dinosaur.  Uh, ignore the tree, I did that.  He wanted me to help but not really!  :) 

Here’s a close up of the pterodactyl from the above picture.

I can’t remember what type of animal this is.  But Avatar is riding on his neck.

He drew this picture with markers and then painted it with his water color paints.  I think this one is my fav! 

OK, they’re all my favs!  Longneck eating from the top of the tree! :) 

Hope you all have a great weekend!  I’m off to check on you guys. :) 

Well last nights weigh in made me think about one of my fav movies.  “Planes, trains and automobiles”  If you haven’t seen it, it is a must see.  It stars two of my fav actors, Steve Martin and the late great, John Candy.

One of my fav scenes in the movie is when John Candy mistakenly exits the highway and then manages to get back on the highway going the wrong way.  You’ll have to see the movie to find out how that happens. 

Anyway, as they are speeding down the highway going the wrong way a car on the other side of the highway sees them and they roll down their window and yell “You’re going the wrong way!, you’re going to kill someone!”   Steve Martin looks over at John Candy and tells him what they said and John Candy says something like “That’s ridiculous they don’t know where we’re going!”

Long story short, I’m going the wrong way on the scale and if I don’t get this under control I’m going to kill someone…me,  AND I can’t keep myself in denial any longer! I’m up 1.25 this week. 

I’m very good at denial and I have trouble finding balance with being kind to myself, being mean to myself and not allowing myself to be in denial.  I found this post to be quite helpful.  It was a very hard post to read because too many times I make excuses or blow off gaining weight, or I just bury my head in the sand.

I need to spend more time being honest with myself.  Not mean, not nice…just honest.  So this week I’m up 1.25 and I know exactly what I did to get there.  Good news, I know exactly what I need to do to make that number go down!

My week is off to a great start.  Made it to the gym yesterday.  Accomplished all my goals….except taking the 5 mins of medi/peaceful time for myself.   Have to work on  getting that in for me!

I have decided to keep my goals the same this week.   My thought is that I should master these and have them be habits before I move on.

1. Drink 8-8oz glasses of water.

2. Eat breakfast and lunch at the table with no distractions.

3. Cardio 30 min x3 – T, Th and Sat at the Y 3:30, if J can’t go with me then at the Y 6am.

4. Journal food/calories.  This keeps me grounded  and it helps me to eat more balanced.

5.  Take 5 mins a day for me, meditation or just peace.

I wish I took some pictures, last night I made the best pasta dish.  At least I thought it was the best!   Frank liked it, but not as much as I did.

OK I made this up so there aren’t any real measurements.  I’ll call it:

Yummy Raspberry Turkey Pasta

• 6 – 8 oz ground turkey
• 1/2 a large onion
• non-stick spray
• portabella mushrooms
• frozen broccoli
• cooked whole wheat pasta
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• marjoram
• garlic powder
• oregano
• olive oil

1.  I sprayed the pan with no-stick spray, threw in the ground turkey, onion (for the onion I just cut it in half  and then pushed the circles out, but you can cut it however you want) and mushrooms.   Cook until turkey is browned.

2.  Add the frozen broccoli,  salt, pepper, marjoram, garlic powder and oregano.  Put a lid on it and let the broccoli cook, stir a couple of times.

3.  When the broccoli is cooked put the past on top of the turkey mixture.  Pour some  raspberry balsamic vinegar and olive oil (it was prob 1 T of balsamic Vin and maybe 1 1/2 to 2 T of olive oil)  on top of the pasta.   Cover and let it warm up (my pasta was cold).  Toss to mix then serve!

Makes 2 – 4 servings.

I don’t know calories, but you could plug it into spark people with your measurements.

Salad sounded good with the above dish so I pulled out a bunch of romaine lettuce  and it was totally wilted, I almost threw it out, but then I cut off the bottom and set it in a deep dish bowl with cold water.  Came out this morning and it is so crisp!   I knew that this trick worked with celery, happy to find that it works with the romaine lettuce too!

My back is starting to have a twinge.  Left side with a bit of pain down the back of my leg.  Yup I believe it’s sciatica.  It started last night, but fortunately this morning it feels better, but it still feels like it could go either way.  I have to go to Orlando today and I’m hoping that the car ride doesn’t aggravate it!

I think had my best week yet.  My little goal book served as a great reminder.  I noticed I did better on  the days that I had it with me and took the time to look at it.    It served as a constant reminder.

1. Drink 8 –8 oz glasses water -  I did this 4 out of 7 days.  That’s a big improvement.

2. Eat Breakfast and Lunch at the table with no computer/tv/reading – I did this 9 out of 14 meals.

3. Journal food/calories – I did this  3 1/2 out of 7 days.

4. Cardio 30 min 3x’s -  I made it twice. 

5. Try on my jeans – I did this.  No more running away from them.

6. 5 mins a day meditation/me time – did this 2 out of 7 days.  Need to work on that one. 

I feel very good about what I accomplished this week.  But there is definitely room for improvement.  Better planning, focus and commitment are needed.  I do feel like I’m moving in the right direction.

Well I almost titled this post Fall in Florida, but then I remembered technically it’s Winter! :) 

But it sure does look like fall!:

My son doesn’t know that raking leaves is work!

He must get that from me.  When we lived in upstate NY I was the one that shoveled the driveway.  I would go out after dark  or early in the morning.  It was always so peaceful and the snow would sparkle in the moonlight.  

This is the view from the bottom of our driveway. *sigh*

Hope ya’ll have a great Friday.  I’ll be back around on Sunday for goal review! 

Well I’m up .25.  Just a minor blip.

Yesterday was a work out day.  My little man is sick, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to take him to the Y.  Frank has quite a busy schedule, the calls are coming in this week, a bunch of them, YAY!  I figured that he would be home late.  Anyway, I got up and went to the Y at 6:30.  I was able to do 30 minutes and my back did fine!  All recovered.

I felt so triumphant  when I left the Y.  It’s not enough for me to say I’ll exercise  3 times this week.  What really helped was defining what that meant.  Which days, what time and my back up time if J wasn’t able to go with me.

I tried on my smaller jeans Monday.   Before I put them on I noticed how small they looked.  I felt motivated.  In that moment I realized that we have a choice on how we view set backs.  We can allow them to be a reminder of failure, something I’ve been quite good at in the past.  Or we can choose it to be a reminder of our successes.  Our ability to succeed.

When I was a kid I had flawed thinking when it came to my life.  My childhood was filled with many disappointments.  From being left alone for days at a time, broken promises, conditional love from parents.  With all of those things I decided to always expect the worst.  Always look at the glass as half empty.  I remember sitting in a therapists office when I was 12 and I remember telling him that if I always expect the worst to happen, when it does happen I won’t be disappointed.    Looking back I realize it was a way to protect myself, but I was still disappointed, I was still hurt, I still felt rejected.  But what came of it was a very negative attitude.   Always focusing on the negative.  That thinking has carried over into adulthood and I’ve lived most of my life thinking about my failures.

That’s no way to live.  When I tried on those jeans yesterday it was like a light bulb went off.  I wasn’t reminded of my failure, I was reminded of my success.  That felt so good.  I didn’t feel shame, I didn’t feel disappointed in myself.  I felt that this past year has been a journey of learning.  Learning that I’m living my life right now.  It’s not on hold until I reach some magic number on the scale.  I learned what lifestyle change means.  I’m making small changes, setting small goals and mentally I’m learning how to hope.  How to not always expect the worst.  I’m learning how to be kind to myself, but also hold myself accountable.  Actions have consequences.

I’m sure I’ll have more on this topic in the future.  Have a great hump day!