Yes! We Have MOTION!

I am thoroughly pleased to say, that Friday and Saturday, close to three miles of ground were covered. Yeah man we're back WALKING again.

Gotta tell a bit of a story about my youngest, known lovingly as Wrecking Crew. Friday the boys were my motivation to walk. Cub was insistent we get the job done, and told me in no uncertain terms to Cowgirl UP.

Wrecking Crew however....

As we were gearing up in our socks and sneakers, my sweet little Wrecker sat on the couch next to me and sighed heavily. He said, "Mom, I don't want to walk. My legs get tired." I told him we would only go a little ways, and that it would really help me out if he came with us. "OK Mom. I'll go for a little bit."

Well out we go. And I watched my sweet Wrecking Crew. That child.... that child probably RAN four miles to my walking one and a half. Up, down, back and forth, over and over again... the child never stopped.

If we could bottle that energy...!!

Taking Sundays off from walking. Monday we pick back up with getting slowly back to the pathetic shuffle jog routine too. We'll keep you posted on how things go!

Do We See A Chance of WALKING?

Maybe.. just maybe...

I feel like I am tempting Fate once again by daring to hope that I can start walking again. It's been so long that we'll be starting over from scratch, but at least we will be STARTING. That's something, right?


Of course, with hunting season in full swing now, we dare not go on our trail through the woods. And since there are brandy new NO TRESPASSING signs plastered all up and down the entrance and exit to the trail, and all along the roadway, I'm assuming that we don't need to be on the trail anyways.

Back to walking the road. Which frankly is boring as all get out.

I'm hoping I can maybe catch the person who owns the land the trail is on, and ask permission (sweetly) if we can maybe continue walking on it. We'll see....

Cross your fingers though. Getting back to walking this week would be Freaking Lovely.

Did You Hear the SCRREEEEEEEEECH-ing to a Halt?

Well, things did just that around these parts. Again.

Why?

Well, I could make all kinds of excuses I'm sure, but the main one is... illness.

We were doing great before the trip to CO. Even with a diagnosis of walking pneumonia, the kids, Jo and I were still out there churning out the miles. Only I walked instead of doing the pathetic jog/ shuffle. We were doing GREAT.

The first few days back from CO, I had to re-adjust to the altitude here at sea- level. (I never would have thought it would be THAT much of an adjustment. Trust me- going from OPEN sinuses to packed ones once again sucked MOOSE knuckle.)

We managed two mornings of walking- about a mile each morning. We just were having a bad time getting back into the swing of things.

Then it happened. The kids got what we call Creeping Crud (aka: SickernHell). Sleep went out the window, housework came to a halt, everything stopped as tending two coughing, hacking, feverish, crabby, crying, demanding children took over. I managed to get two nights of OK sleep only to wake up yesterday with the Creeping Crud myself.

Know what y'all? I'm real damn tired of being sick and tired.

FORTUNATELY, I don't appear to have the Creeping Crud as bad as the children did, so I'm hoping in the next couple of days to get back to walking. And even doing some more of that pathetic shuffle/ jog thing too.


That's it from this corner of the world as far as fitness goes. I have not lost any pounds (I don't think anyways- still don't own a scale, and currently I live in sweat pants,) and I still have a teeny tiny bit of sanity left. It's all good, right?

Now, if you'll excuse me, the apple crisp in the oven is getting ready to ding....

Day Three Update

I don't know who is complaining louder right now about the "new exercise routine"-- my poor old aching body or Jo the Wonder Nanny Dog.

See, where ever I go, Jo goes. For the first fifteen minutes of each trip, Jo is happy, bounding along, smile firmly on her sweet face, tail going the whole time as she paces along beside me and Wrecking Crew (because the Cub is usually WAY out in front. He runs ahead, and runs back to check on me. Then he runs out, and runs back. Lather, rinse, repeat. For the entire 30 to 40 minutes we are out there.)

Back to Jo.

By about the twenty minute mark, I have to nudge her with my knee now and again to keep her moving.

At the last lap, she is pooped. Today, we added in a little extra distance walking from the end of the trail to the gate at the end of our road. (1/5th mile there and back to the house.) Jo quit by the drive way and looked at me. I swear she was saying, "Really Mom? Are you out of your MIND?" We hit the house and she dives into the water bucket and passes out on the floor for at least an hour.

Poor old Jo.
I know how she feels. Except I don't dare collapse on the floor for an hour- I'd never get UP again. And there is no telling what the Locust Brothers would do to me while I was down either.


Overall though, I'm pleased. Tired, a bit sore, determined more than ever, wondering at what is left of my sanity, but pleased fits the bill.

Day One was documented on here- roughly a mile with some attempt at a slow jog/ shuffle interspersed with walking.

Day Two- yesterday- was walking only, and I added in an extra set of walking the trail out and back again. Cub ran it. Just about the entire time. Again. (Oh to have that child's energy.)

Day Three- today- was good. We walked to warm up, and I jog/ shuffled a good bit. In fact, I jogged/ shuffled about five times the distance of day one. Now lest that sound overly "impressive", the jog/ shuffle added up to about 1/2 the distance of the trail. (Maybe 1/4 mile-ish.)

Tomorrow I'm planning a walk day. We'll see though, how I feel in the morning how long and the speed.

Oh my Kingdom for a horse about now.... this making my own wind through my hair? SUCKS. But as long as it gets me where I'd like to be, I'll Cowgirl Up and get it done.

Now I had BETTER not be the only one out here suffering! Spill it y'all- what have you been doing?

I'm still here!!

Things have been a bit crazy but should *knock on wood* settle down. Which is good because I still have to unpack and organize my house AND the barn. Seriously, only what really needed unpacked in both is what's unpacked.
But there are things in my favour for getting both done. First of all our house in the city sold (it was a bit late getting on the market). Most of the outside stuff at our new home in the country is done - other than the chores which always need done... but I'm not complaining! :)

My plan for now is to finish settling in and try to ride as much as I can while the weather is nice. Also to do yoga at the local bar when I can.
Yes you read that right. That's how "small town" our town is. There is yoga in the basement of the bar Monday and Wednesday nights. I work Wednesday but Monday I usually have off. However it is Pie's only day off too so we'll see how that works out.

This winter I'm thinking of either trying my hand at cross country skiing or snowshoeing. Goodness knows I have room to try either. Have any of you guys done either one? Any tips or advice?

And once things are unpacked and sorted enough I hope to have my treadmill unburied and get back to using it on a regular basis.

OH! And right next door is a small indoor arena so hopefully this winter I'll get in some decent riding!!

The Plan

Dear Horse Peeps,

So, in my comment to Mrs. Mom, I did say I'd post about my riding plan here.

I have rode exactly 3 times in the last 3 years, after an 11 year hiatus. During those 11 years, I have sustained more than a couple head injuries. One left me with about 3 years of vertigo and a fear of heights since then. The vertigo is gone. I now fear not having control and falling.

Additonally, as some of you know, I've had Casey now for 2 years. During this time, he's been gaining weight and rehabbed and retrained. Then, he came home to the mud, muck and slippery slope of the farm. Then we moved here and he, being black, melted in the heat of Georgia.

It has cooled off. I have debated turning the heat on these last 3 mornings.

It is time to ride.

I know what I need to get back on the horse. Really, as someone who taught her friends to ride in high school and eldest daughter in the last couple years, I KNOW what is needed. DOING it has been more of an obstacle.

I NEED someone I trust to be holding the lunge line with Casey. I NEED that safety net to feel safe enough to mount my ginormous horse. Ok, at 16hh and 1300#, he feels ginormous. To me.

So far, here in Georgia, the only person I know who knows squat about horses and is close is my husband, Bad Pants. (Mrs. Mom is about 5 hours away, so that doesn't work). Unfortunately, Bad Pants is up to his proverbial eyeballs in work, often not escaping his home office until 8-9 pm on average. So, that will not work.

I no longer have a truck since the tow bar failed before leaving town on our move here. No truck means no trailer. Buying a new truck is in the future, but not quite today.

So... (dramatic pause)

I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a trainer to come to me. They are, after all, elusive creatures here in Georgia, preferring that everyone come to them. Fortunately, I found someone! So, I will be paying more to have someone come to me, to work with me with MY horse. Of course, this plan also includes a few lessons at their place on their lesson horse. With luck, I will have my first confidence building lesson no later than October 17th!

In the mean time, I am walk/jogging (doing c25k training again) with the hopes of running my first 5k this coming spring, along with Pilates to strenthen my core for riding and upper body strength training since I'm no longer moving 7-8 three string bales of hay every 2 weeks.

This is The Plan.

Run. Ride. Pilates. Strength Train.


So, if my lard @ss can do this, and I wear a larger pants size than MM, so can you!


Love,

OS


P.S. Did you know horseback riding burns 833 calories per hour? Amazing!

Fit At 40?

First, let's take a look at what all has gone on in The Asylum since August.

The horse left.
It got hottern hellfire in the Southland.
And I blew out my back in a BIG way.
Courtesy of my back injury, I stopped trimming most of my clients.

Which lead to.....

A really un-fit Mrs Mom.

We aren't talking "soft" here kids. We're talking, "OMG you are a COW" un-fit.

Knock on wood, my back has been OK.
The weather has cooled to wonderful temperatures, and it is not as humid.
I am slowly (painfully, because of my LACK of fitness,) attempting to trim a couple of horses here and there.
Still no horse, which was a GREAT motivator to get out and move more, clean paddock, ride- you know- all the fun horse stuff.

And today?
Today I got sick of being a Fat Cow.

Today, I grabbed the bull (no- wait-- I shook the fat rolls) by the horns and said, "DO SOMETHING!"

The kids and I jumped for ten minutes. Why stop? Well, for one, it felt like my legs were going ot fall slam off, and for two about the fifth time one of them wound up under my feet I figured it would be better to stop jumping ON them and find something else to do.

So. We pulled on our sneakers and hit the road. I was thinking we'd walk up and down the pavement as many times as I could, when Cub said, "Hey Mom! I know- let's walk on Papa's walking trail!"

Turns out it was an EXCELLENT idea. I'd guess what we covered was roughly 3/4 mile there, plus 1/4 on pavement. AND-- I walked it AND jogged some.

You know what? I have not jogged or run since I was a kid, before I discovered that A) it was a lot easier to lope a horse to where I wanted to be, and B) a flat out gallop was WAY more fun AND way faster.

No horse to gallop on. If I want to feel the wind in my hair, it is going to have to be wind I create.

There ya have it y'all. I have a shape-- and it is "round".
I
Hate
It.

I have a desire- to not keel over when chasing after the kids.


Will I survive it? Only time will tell. But I am pleased at my recovery time thus far. I'm counting on my muscle memory to help get my old ass back into shape too.

Please muscles, don't have CRS now........


I want to say a heart felt thank you to a special friend- she is the biggest impulsion for me to get up and moving again, and I bet she didn't even know it. Oregon Sunshine, thank you. You've no idea what you've started- now let's keep it going together, girl!! xoxo

My 10% Life

I really should write this elsewhere first. I'm afraid I'm going to lose it by accident. However, the words are flowing so the impulse to write outweighs the time it will take to open a new Word doc to begin.

So far on my weight loss journey, I've lost more than 10% of my total body weight. They say that losing just 10% of your body weight can have positive effects on your blood pressure. I would have no idea as I have had beautiful blood pressure my whole life, with the exception of my pregnancies (pre-eclampsia). Let's check that off anyways, shall we?

x Better Blood Pressure

Also, losing 10% of your body weight lowers your cholesterol. Another thing I've never had an issue with.

x Lower Cholesterol

Reducing your weight by 10% also reduces your risk for Type 2 Diabetes. I've always been hypoglycemic, so this has always been a bit of a worry as I aged. So, good for me for doing something!

x reduced Type 2 Diabetes risk

With the 10% loss, you gain energy. Yep! Well, my feet don't hurt all the time. I don't sleep nearly as much and I get more done in a day.

x More Energy

Losing 10% can give you self-confidence and motivation. Yes! I feel better about myself!

x Increase in Self-Confidence

Losing 10% also gives you a reality check as to what it will take to continue your weight loss and lose more weight. Why yes, yes it does! Losing 10% wasn't easy. There were a lot of aches and pains, not to mention frustration with myself that I couldn't do MORE or wimped out earlier than I thought I should. It was hard work! I'm not going to lie about it nor will I beat myself up over it. So, reality check... Check!

x Reality Check

This is where the list I found on the internet ended. However, my life's 10 percents haven't stopped there.

In the last 6 months I've changed how my family eats. We eat 90% healthy and about 10% junk now. Ok, maybe including the move and settling in, it's been more like 85/15 for the last 2 months. But we're settled now and back to our 90/10 routine.

x Healthier eating

I've also taken to making my kids try new foods. They only need to eat 3 bites of the new food, which usually turns out to be 10% of a serving. Also, I apply the same rule to healthy foods they don't like (tomatoes, brussel sprouts, etc). In the process, they have learned that they really do like some of the foods they thought were icky before. (Adults try and retry things they don't like too!) This in turn, not only begins to eliminate picky eating, but increases vitamins and mineral consumption in foods that perhaps they weren't getting enough of before.

x Increased nutrient consumption, less picky eating.

When I'm tired and running low on energy during a workout, I tell myself that I can do just one more, run one fence post farther, give just a tiny bit more. And I do. I feel good about doing it too.

x Give 110%

So, in recap, by improving my life and lifestyle by just 10%, I have better blood pressure, lowered my cholesterol, reduced my risk for type 2 diabetes, gained energy, gained confidence, eat healthier, gained more nutrients from my food, learned how to give 110% and have given myself a reality check to boot!

I'm trying to better my life by 10% at a time. How about you?

Here!

Wow! It's really, really quiet around here! What've y'all been up to since I started the moving process?

Well, obviously I moved. To Georgia, in fact. I bought a pair of shorts a few days before we moved. They fit perfectly. I wore them on the second day of our cross country trip. I wore them again about a week after we got here. The third time I wore them, they were loose. Now, they practically fall off. I can pull them off over my hips without unbuttoning them.

Then the other day, my husband commented that my rear is shrinking. My comment "Damn! I was hoping this muffin top was starting to go!" I have a FLAT rear. There really isn't much back there to hang a waistband on. So losing my rear before the muffin top is not my idea of cool. However...

This means I got new pants! I am fully one size smaller than when we left Oregon. What have I been doing different?

Well, I haven't been doing anything different except maybe not so many farm chores since we live on a teeny-tiny spread now. Wha?? How's this work??

Simple! It's quite possible that I underestimated how many calories I was burning every day with chores and not eating enough. Yep! I said NOT EATING ENOUGH. Because, if you don't eat enough calories, your body believes your in starvation mode and will start conserving calories instead of burning them.

So, why don't y'all scrutinize your calories in vs calories out and see if you need to revamp your own plan? Are you getting enough calories? Too many? Is there room for more food in your eating plan? Perhaps you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Ch...Ch...Ch..CHANGES...

Busy busy week this past week. Lots of client horses. Hot. Humid. Swimming in the lake, loads of activity.

To end the week, on our way to our last client, I had (of course) to hit a rest stop. (Public potties normally gross me out, but my teeth were floating by this time.)

The potty (was CLEAN!) had a full length mirror on the back of the door. (Which was also CLEAN!) My first thought:
groan
"Good grief! Who the heck wants to view themselves while perched on the loo?"

I think there was an advantage though. For the first time in a long time, I was able to get a full view- from the soles of my boots to the top of my hat.

What I saw didn't make me happy, but it did not leave me deep in the depths of despair, either.

Things.
Are.
Changing.

There is more "shape"- and not just ROUND, either.
There is less of the "jiggly" stuff.
Not by a lot, but the changes were there enough for me to notice.

Huh. Whatdoyaknowboutthat?



NOW-- the REST of yas-- OS, I know you are busy moving, as is CDN. Laura, you've been busting behiney with work and moving Rusty. (YAY on the job stuff too girl!!) But we haven't heard from SquirrelGurl, Chelsi, or Regina lately. Ladies-- it isn't about who-lost-how-much--- it's way more than that. So let us know y'all are OK, OK?

You Know You've Gone Too Long When....

While watching television... a commercial comes on interrupting valuable program time to lead you down the path of temptation....

In my case, it was a SONIC commercial.

Showing deep, rich, warm, chocolate sauce slowly oozing down over ice cream.

Y'all, portions of my upper anatomy just about rubbed holes in my t-shirt.

The past three weeks have just totally SUCKED diet-wise. For real. For a wide variety of reasons, getting TO the store to replenish fresh foods has been ... well, frankly getting that done has been nigh on impossible. We've resorted to lots of pasta type meals, and bad carbs. Know what? Dear Husband (whose sugar levels are plumb perfect,) and I both feel like CRAP. Wrecking Crew is happy- that child could eat mac and cheese five times a day, eight days a week. The rest of us? Not so much.

The next chance we will have to hit the store will be sometime on Friday afternoon, on our way home from clients. (Always a fun thing to do. Go trim about ten horses and then go to WallyWorld to stock up on edibles. One of these days, I expect to see a story and pictures about us on PeopleOfWalMart.com....)

At any rate--- lesson learned. Do not allow excuses to throw your "good" diet to the wolves. You'll pay for it in mood, overall feeling like crap, no energy, and cravings for crunchy, crispy veggies and fruits that will wake you in the middle of the night. (OK-- so I'm hankering after a steak and taters too, but I'm ALWAYS craving that!)

Eat well everyone. I know *I'm* looking forward to it!!

Oh- side note. Our Jo the Wonder Nanny Dog is an easy keeper. She is older now, and watching her weight as well has been a priority, as she does tend to get umm.. chunky. Lately, she has gone from "chunky" to well, BLUBBERY. I was quite worried about her, until we figured out WHY she gained so much.

No, the Locust Brothers weren't feeding her THEIR food. They were just giving her about three times her NORMAL amount at each feeding. Jo being a polite pup cleaned her plate so she would not get into trouble. (That's her story, and she is sticking to it.)

Wish MY issue was as easy to resolve as Jo's!

Gotta make some changes

As some of you may know I'm going to be moving. Hubby & I have found our place in the country, finally. :D
Now we're not going to be out in the middle of nowhere, after all we need to be fairly close to work... especially with our abnormal hours! But I am pretty sure that I will be quitting Curves.
I just don't think it will work trying to fit it in. After all one of the reasons that I'm grateful we're moving is that I will no longer be making that hour (round trip) drive to take care of my horses. Why replace that with the gym?
My new game plan (to start after we move and get settled in) is to focus on diet. Eat more fresh food, more home-cooked food, more healthy food. Should be easier to implement once we move. Part of the reason I eat so much "convenience food" right now is just that, convenience. After running around trying to fit in time to get to and from the horses, time to take care of/ride them, time to do errands and get back in time to get ready for work I'm stuck grabbing something fast for lunch.
So I'm planning on keeping the house stocked with healthier choices. And if I have to tie a horse up, run to the house to start lunch and then go back to untack and put away the waiting horse... well that's at least do-able! Also there aren't any fast food places to stop by and grab something quick ;)
I know that I'll be doing more riding, and more just plain old moving around, once we're at the new place. And when I work at my riding and spend time at it I tend to lose some inches.
I also plan on focusing on my treadmill again once we're moved. Also hubby has a Bowflex (an older model) and if I can just figure out how to use it, and manage to not hurt myself, I think that would be a good option to work out 3x a week. Oh, and I think I've got the perfect spot in the new house for those two machines :)
I'm kinda sad about leaving Curves. When I do manage to fit it in its a good workout. I love that I can track the changes and the camaraderie at the location I go to. I like that I feel accountable there. Hopefully even though I won't be there my friend Nic still will go. That way she can give me that 'accountability factor' even though I'll be working out at home and she'll be at the gym.

I Like To Move It, Move It!! ... MOVE IT!!!!

For those of you who are parents, and have seen "Madagascar", you'll be familiar with King Jullian singing that particular ditty. Which always with out fail gets me and the Locust Brothers up and dancing around the living room, looking like we have totally lost our last marble.

But, it works. It gets us MOVING. The beat, turned up loud enough, blocks out those self-sabotaging thoughts of, "But darn, I'm TIRED"... or any other whiney pathetic excuse I might try to come up with.

It wasn't King Jullian singing this morning that got me motivated. Nope. It was Nazareth. Not a very "nice" song to many, I'll refrain from spouting off the title here. But let's just say it fit. The past two months have shown me what I had forgotten.

I had forgotten that I am indeed, very capable of DOING things. Be it trimming horses, heavy work in the yard, fixing fence, chasing the kids, jumping on the jumpoline, I. Can. Do. It.

So, with Nazareth blasting from the house in the background, Sonny Bunz got pulled from the paddock. His feet got trimmed. He was a putz, so he spent some time on the Patience Tree while I got a drink and changed clothes.

Every time those self- doubts tried to creep back up, I'd give myself a mental b*tch slap, and MOVE.

Once I changed clothes, Sonny got groomed.
Then he got ground work.
And then we rode.
And today we loped.
Bareback.
Up and down the yard.
We.
LOPED.

My legs now feel like rubber.
My belly muscles are really reminding me they are there.

And my cheeks hurt from the big sh*t eating grin that has not left my face in umm... what four hours now? hehe

I'll allow some sitting around now, since not only is the horse cared for, the house tidied up, the children fed (again), and the dishes done (again.) And tomorrow? Well, you can bet that in the morning Sonny and I will be back out there, loping across the yard again.

I hate *HATE* exercise. So, instead of "exercise", I am using my horse to get me into shape.

Let's see how this works.....

And what are the rest of y'all up to???? Still too quiet out here!!

I Did It!

Hay! I did it! I can move 107 lbs. hay bales around on my own by lifting them, not rolling, flipping or sliding them! The new hay is in 107 lbs bales, the old hay was in 130 lbs bales. The last couple loads of the old hay seemed light to me. They were easier to move. But, they weren’t lighter, I’m just stronger! Yay Me! I rock!

Now, to work on this whole 5k business...

Y'all Will Be Proud Of Me

I resisted. Really, truly, honestly- resisted.

It was in the frozen foods section at the mega mart. I needed more frozen fruits for smoothies.... You know where this is going, right? Yeah. The frozen fruit is directly across from the Ice Cream.

Heavenly, chocolate filled, nutted up, smooth, silky, sweet, cold, bits of frozen Heaven. It called my name... my eyes glazed over... Wrecking Crew was with me, and his wisdom of the moment was, "Mommy! ICE CREEEAAAAAMMMMMMMMM!" (No help there huh?)

When a wee bit of drool began to seep from the corner of my mouth, I decided it was time to move on--- with a quickness!

What stopped me from indulging in my fantasy? Ok- other than the fact that I'd get locked up for stripping down nekkid and ROLLING in the ice cream right there in the store.

It was Dear Husband.

The thought of him, at home, sugar levels going insane, pain levels insane, and knowing how much he loves ice cream.

I could not- just NOT NOT NOT- bring it into the house and eat it in front of him. My husband saved me from myself, with out even being there. Lawsy I love that man.

On the up side - I did indulge in a tiny package of Peanut M&M's. It wasn't ice cream by a long shot, but... it worked. Kinda.

Another upside?
My in waist band holster (for when I wish to carry concealed,) fit into my jeans much more comfortably today. Seems going back to work under horses and making my muffin top scream is wicked good for me!

OK- the REST of you have been much tooooo quiet. What's the "skinny"? What's going on?? Fill us in!!

Keepin' on keepin' on

I haven't posted an update in a while, so I thought I'd better get to it!

Things are going well here, for the most part. The last couple of months have been kinda stressful, with lots going on. I normally struggle with emotional eating (especially when faced with lots of stress) but I have been making a huge effort to really think before I eat.

I've been doing a decent job of bringing healthy meals and snacks to work, so that helps alot. I can resist the vending machine and the cafeteria, if I'm well prepared. It is little victories like this that help me along. I can feel positive momentum building, albeit slowly... :-) My biceps and quads are also starting to firm up from all of my workouts with my trainer. I just need to shed the layer of protective fat on top so I can display those muscles!

I would really like to buy a pair of beige breeches for summer riding - since the only ones I have are black! I don't want to cook while I'm out riding the trails and fields this summer. I need to get a few pounds off before I buy more breeches, but that is kind of what I am shooting for right now. I sometimes wear jeans to ride in, but I find that they bunch up and are kind of uncomfortable...

What do you guys ride in in the summer? Jeans? Breeches? Any other types of riding attire that is cool and comfortable?

Not sure how it happened

I've been seriously neglecting my diet lately.
Diet as in the amount and types of foods I intake, not diet as in a particular food plan.
Anyhow, I've been eating whatever I want, whenever I want - even if it is something that I'm trying to limit. The stress of trying to get the house in order and working on the banking end of things (see here if you need to be caught up) made me totally ignore my 'healthy & mindful eating' goals.
And because I'm spending all my spare time cleaning/decluttering the house, running to appointments and the other little details that go along with trying to sell/buy property I have had VERY little pony time (which is making me cranky) and have had NO time to go to Curves (which surprisingly is also making me cranky lol) So it came as a complete and utter shock to me that I have lost 4 whole pounds!
Not sure how it happened but I'll take it! :)

Yummy Treat

I totally forgot to fill you in on our latest "indulgence". No, it does not replace chocolate by any means, (in FACT right before I posted this, Cub shared not one, but TWO chocolate covered donuts with me... *bliss*) but this has been a great way to get some fruits into my youngest "fruit", the Wrecking Crew. Cub is no problem- he'll eat anything as long as it does not try to eat him first. Wrecker? Fagedaboutdit. Slap together one of these frozen babies though, and he sucks it down and looks for more.

Simple to make, (which is good because I have no brain power left lately to try anything complicated,) and good for us too, these smoothies rock.

All I do is a half dozen or so ice cubes, frozen sugar free fruits, a nanner, some yogurt, a splash of milk, and BAM- hit pulse and instant happy child. (Happy Mommy too for that matter.)

Anyone else have some simple summery treats to share?

Guilt and Disappointment

Today, I was supposed to run 5k at the Portland Race for the Roses. I've been training for months now. And while I've had set backs of illness and injury, I was really, really, really looking forward to it!

But... I didn't get to go run today. You see, Bad Pants had a work crisis. Lots of things were going wrong. First, his office scheduled an off-site hoorah get together sort of thing for this week, starting today. (Did I mention that today is also the day Doodle flies in for her very short spring break visitation and we haven't seen her in 7 months AND his vacation got cancelled at the last minute for this?) So, because BP had to be in downtown Portland and not at the finish line with the kids, I had to scratch the race. Instead, I kept my 10 yr old nephew overnight so his mom, whom I challenged to run with me, could run since BP was supposed to have him as well while we raced.

No, instead, I stayed home. BP went and did some big presentation that his former boss (who quit suddenly last week causing chaos) was supposed to do. Instead, I decided to be a good wife and support my husband and his quest to climb up the corporate ladder. Because, you see, more money equals more stuff to do here at the farm- which means more exercise or a personal trainer and riding lessons. Or something like that.

I've been disappointed since Monday. I've not made any effort to work out since last week. More, I haven't make any effort to run since hearing that the doc didn't want my partner to run due to her newness to exercise and recently achieving control over her diabetes in the past 6 weeks. I mean, if I wasn't running, what was the purpose of training? I'd have to walk the whole blasted thing to be a good person and stay with my teammate because I challenged her. That wasn't how this was supposed to go! So, instead, I let myself go.

After the race this morning, the visiting-racing fam brought down my race packet and freebie stuff I would have gotten if I had ran today. The cute hat says "Finisher 2010". Only I'm not a finisher. I'm not even a starter. I'm disappointed that I didn't run. I'm feeling guilty that I've let everything slide since I knew I wouldn't be running. I didn't do anything to earn the shirt or the hat or heck, even the chap stick. Yet, here I am with a ton of really awesome stuff I'd be so proud to have had I actually raced, walked, skipped, stumbled, something. I didn't do it.

I don't deserve it.

This one's for you, Mrs. Mom!

To help our wonderful Mrs. Mom not feel so bad about her picture from the other day, I thought I'd post a particularly bad one of me and Rusty. I think the angle is a bit funny, but either way, it is not a flattering shot of me.

Even though I've actually lost a bit of weight recently, there is still a ways to go.

So, this afternoon will be spent looking at cookbooks and meal plans for ideas for healthy food throughout the week. Also, I will be planning out my exercise for the week. It will be written in my calendar and it will be done.

This extra weight? It's gotta go. It's been dragging me down for a while now.

Are you guys in with me?