A Little Bit About A Lot Of Things

Sure why not! :) 

Earlier this week I was happy to find that Danskin has some plus size exercise clothing at Wal*Mart.    The best part, the shirts are only $7.  I think that’s  a pretty good price.

I remember when we lived in upstate NY, I had the hardest time finding plus size snow pants.  Workout clothes can be just as hard to find.  I should add…..at a reasonable price! 

Well looks like we are moving forward in our adventure to move.  I really didn’t want to move until we could get into a house of our own.  We are going to make a pit stop on our way to finding a house.  We found someplace to live that will be about 1/3 of what we are paying now.  Theoretically we should be able to put  the other 2/3 right in our savings account.  

Moving, packing all of it, is so overwhelming to me.  So much to pack, but at the same time it’s a great opportunity to clear out some stuff.  The place we will be moving to is a tiny bit bigger, but with a lot less closets.  The neighborhood seems very quiet.  I’ll have a tiny bit of a yard to garden in.  I’ve been wanting to have an herb garden and where we live right now we have too much shade.

So it’s all good!  At least that’s what I keep telling myself. No really, it’s all good! 

In anticipation of moving I was looking through my cupboards.  We have a lot of odds and ends.  Does anybody know a website that will let you plug in all the ingredients you have  and then it pops out a recipe using only what you have?  Wouldn’t that be cool? 

Well I hope you all have a wonderful Weds~!  :) 

Well I’m down 1.8 this week! :) 

It was still a rough week for me.  I did well until Thursday afternoon, then it all pretty much fell apart.  When I feel stressed or overwhelmed the first ball I drop is my own.  I stop taking care of myself.

This past couple of weeks I can see how counterproductive that is.  I notice that when I eat junk and stop exercising I feel worse and the stress is worse and then I don’t sleep well.  It’s like this major dog pile on top of me.

We’ve decided to move from our apartment.  The stressful part is jumping into the abyss.  Our complex requires 60 days notice, so that means giving notice this week and then trusting we’ll find someplace else to live.  It seems that other complexes in our area only require a 30 day notice so they can’t tell us if they’ll have something else available.  So I’m a bit overwhelmed thinking about that.  

But, I sat down and worked through worst case scenario, they have an extended stay hotel  in our area. That would be a little bit more than what we’re paying right now.  It includes utilities and we can just plop everything in storage.

Ideal, not really, but it’s the way it is right now.  No amount of crappy eating or sitting around on the couch wishing it was different will change that! 

Oh, I discovered sparkpeople’s  food journal this week.  I thought that I was a pencil and paper kinda gal. :)  But I have to say that I loved keeping track of my calories online.  One of the things that I loved was that it keeps track of how much fat, protein and carbs I have had in a day and it can tell me if I’m at, above or below my goal.  That helps me make better choices.  But I can also track other things like sodium, calcium and fiber!  Sparkpeople.com  if you haven’t tried it, take a look, best part it’s free! :)  If you join, friend me,  my user name is skeet57.

I’m keeping my goals the same this week.  With an addition of no running away from my feelings.  I think in our situation a certain amount of stress is warranted.  I need to accept the feeling and move on.

We’re off to Orlando today.  Hope you all have a great Monday!

Well if you read my last post you know that more than likely I ‘d be up this week and I am, 1.8.    No surprise there, but I know what I need to do to start moving in the right direction, not just scale wise, but health wise!

Zero progress on my goals this week, so I’m doing the same ones again:

1. Get in 3 veggies a day.

Question…does anyone know how much raw spinach is considered a serving?

2. Journal Food and Calories.

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

4. Every night before I go to bed I’m going to listen to one of my hypnotherapy recordings…relaxation!

Off to Orlando again today. 

That’s what I’ve been on this past week.  It’s been a lesson to me because I noticed that my healthy habits went right out the window.  Trying hard not to beat myself up, but, at the same time, not be in denial.  I’ll weight myself tomorrow as planned!  Though I’m sure I won’t be happy with the results.  This will be a week that the scale will tell me what I did wrong….or really confirm what I did wrong.  I already know what I did wrong.  I tried to stuff a LOT of feelings down this past week.

This month, marks the 13 year anniversary of my mom’s death.  Some years it comes and goes without a hitch.  Other years, like this one, it leaves me feeling very funky and just down right emotional. 

So what did I do?  Did I exercise, once, did I journal, nope.  I ate and I cried and I  uh, yeah, ate some more.

There was more than once this past week that I asked myself “what are you doing? why are you doing this?”  My answer to those questions was to eat some more and to sit on the couch defiant, basically telling my inner voice to mind it’s own business and moving as little as possible!  Cut my nose off to spite my face much….oh yeah!  It’s a reoccurring theme with me. 

Is this the way I want to handle stress or emotions? Nope!  But I just couldn’t seem to pull myself out of it. 

So, where do I go from here?  I pick myself up, dust myself off and move on.  It’s all I can do.    I’m not sure if I was trying to comfort myself  or punish myself with food.  Does it really matter?  The bottom line,  I’m using food for something other than what it was intended.  Whether I’m comforting or punishing, neither one of those uses has anything to do with nourishing my body! 

There ya have it!  I didn’t wait until tomorrow to get back on track, I got back on track today, so that is a small victory!  I’ll take it! :) 

Not really , really it’s going to be sleepy Weds.

I tried to go to bed at a decent hour last night and  I had one of those nights.  The one that as soon as I closed my eyes I was filled with anxiety. 

Don’t like these, I don’t have them very often anymore, but when I do they are very frustrating.

So, tell me please, what do you do when you can’t sleep.  What rituals or remedies do you have for insomnia or anxiety?

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.  :)