Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Happy Birthday To Me!

32, that is. . . kind of scary. I am pretty sure I am still 15, at least that is how I act most days. Of course it's just a normal day, cooking, cleaning, knitting, exercising. Nope nothing special. I did however receive a fantastic gift today, one I gave myself. The gift of change, a healthy body that is working towards becoming fit and toned.

I am on day 33 of P90x and day 3 of Brazil Butt Lift. BeachBody has mad a believer out of me with the results I have gotten. And the best part is I am not bored, not one single bit. That to me makes a huge difference in sticking to a working out program and getting results. And results I have them! Are you ready for this? Ok ok so it's not that dramatic but to me, it's major!

30 days ago --
wt : 127
hips: 36.5
waist: 29
thigh: 22
arm: 10.5

3 days ago --
wt: 125
hips: 35.5
waist: 28
thigh: 21
arm: 11

And the proof is in the pictures!

30 days ago



yesterday





I mean wow, look at the difference just on my rear end! And here I thought I wasn't getting much of a lower body workout but obviously something was working it. I cannot wait for the next 30 days transformation, I expect many more changes and that excite me :D

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Back to work!

I am so very glad that last week is over. That had to be the most draining week of my life. The 3 days of being sick and getting barely 3 hours of sleep each night really wiped me out. I did at least get 1 semi decent nights sleep but the next night started more sleeplessness.

At 1am Xander, the 9yo, woke me up complaining of a tummy ache. This has been an ongoing trend with the kids since school started so I didn't pay much attention to it at first. By 2am he was crying from the pain and being yelled at by his roommate, the 13yo. I sent Xander downstairs to watch cartoons, hoping that would help take his mind off whatever was bothering him and he could fall asleep. Around 8am I went and checked in with him and he aid it was still hurting so I felt around on his tummy to which he yelped when I pressed on the right and underside of his belly. It would be another hour before the doctors office opened so I went ahead and showered and got dressed. Thinking more on it though I decided to bypass the Dr, chances were they wouldn't be able to see him right away anyways, and so we headed straight for the ER.

Once in the ER they started to run a kazillion tests from blood to urine to a CT scan which included drinking a yummy barium drink before hand. It took about 1.5-2 hours after getting in to have a diagnosis -- Appendicitis! It took another hour for surgery prep and off my baby went, the first of my kids to ever need surgery. His surgery was quick, about 45 min. Then another 45 in recovery before he was wheeled to the outpatient room and could have a little food (jello and a Popsicle lol). We were in that room about 30 minutes before he was discharged and we could go home. It all happened so fast, we were there by 930 and home by 430!

That night I played musical beds flitting between my bed with Pixie and the couch with Xander before I finally surrendered and just slept on the couch with Xander & Pixie, or well at least I tried to sleep. After that I made a mat on my bedroom floor for Xander to sleep on. I think this surgery has really affected him. He has been very clingy and needy of his mommy, something that is very much unlike him (at least since he was 3 anyways).

This week there is so much going on as well that I feel overwhelmed which usually leads to me getting nothing accomplished. The inlaws will be arriving on Friday and while I know I should be cleaning a little each day the other half of my brain says what is the point, the kids will have torn it all up before they get here so why not just wait until they head off to school Friday morning and do a mass cleaning then? You know that sounds like a good plan indeed.

Because last week was so nuts I didn't do the recovery week of P90x and I have to say I missed my morning workout with Tony. Never thought I would say that! This week I am switching things up a bit. I was following the classic routine for P90x but one thing I noticed was that I as starting to bulk up on my arms (even though I have been using light wts!) but not getting enough focus on what I wanted, lean, slim, toned lower body. I am no following the lean plan and have added in the Brazil Butt Lift workout. Holy crap that workout is NO joke! I however am far from being a sexy or graceful "dancer" which is my only negative about this workout is it does focus a lot on dancing/dance moves. My hope is that as I learn the moves they will start to become more fluid and thereby start looking sexier ;) Yesterdays routine was the bum bum and man does my bum bum huuuuurt! But it's a good hurt. Today was cardio axe (all dance, I really should take a video of me doing this for the pure entertainment factor) and then tummy tuck, an extreme ab workout. I think it may give the ab ripper a run for it's money. So now my bum, my thighs and my abs are killing me but it is all worth it.

Tomorrow as part of WIP Wed I will be including my 30/1 day measurements and pictures, after all I too am a work in progress!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

WIP Wednesday!

I am so late posting today, I have been sick since Sunday and finally feeling back to normal today after getting my first real nights sleep in four days! Playing catch up form the last few days has been fun for sure.

Progress is being made on my friend's cardigan, the left front & back are complete and now I am about to star the right front, then on to the sleeves! I hope to have this wrapped up by next Friday's FO posting (not this weeks!).




Pixie's owl sweater is also coming along nicely, I am at the sleeve split and will hopefully be done this weekend.




I have 3 new projects I have started this week as well and of course I forgot to take a picture of one of them.

A pair of socks for my friend Tabatha, who helped create a resume for me




A cute little baby sweater for my friend who is due very soon, this will have a matching hat and booties too!




Not pictured are my best Gothy yarn dyer's socks in the awesome Sailor Saturn colorway, I cannot wait to get further along on these as I am using a structural technique I have never used before.

Monday, October 18, 2010

M is for

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm mmm YUMMMM! Tonight I made Mediterranean Pizza, recipe from the $5 dollar dinner mom cookbook. I cannot even begin to tell you how DELICIOUS this pizza is and everything is made from scratch! In fact I am pretty sure this dish alone makes the price of the book totally worth it. And really it isn't that expensive. I got mine for free by redeeming my Amazon GC's from my Swagbucks searches. If you haven't signed up with swagbucks I highly recommend it. It really doesn't take long to "earn" 450 sb's which can be redeemed for a $5 Amazon GC!

Back to the Pizza now. . . like I said everything is made from scratch right? I have always, kid you not, been a pizza crust from scratch making failure. No matter what recipe I have tried it just doesn't turn out right. The recipe in this book is flawless and the instructions leave out any guess work. I mean check these babies out! (I doubled the flour & water to make 2)

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So easy and so so very yummy! Next came the sauce, the kids like tomato (and there is a simple and cheap!!! recipe in the book) while the husband and I prefer a white sauce. I followed the basic white sauce recipe and added parmesan cheese to it. While the kids only had fresh sliced roma tomatoes on theirs (they are so boring!), ours was a masterpiece of veggie delights. This masterpiece included fresh roma tomatoes, fresh sauteed spinach, bell peppers, some Japanese mushroom, and on my half black olives. WOW! The pictures really do not do these pizza's justice, and yes the kids did have some of ours after they devoured theirs!

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why yes one of the boys did request spinach on his slice

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Friday, October 15, 2010

FO Friday weeee

It's nice to feel like I have accomplished something. This week I finished a beautiful lace shawl for a friend and Xander's stripey socks.

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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Themed postings

Just like I make meal plans (sometimes the weeks are themed, meatless monday, taco tuesday. . . ) I have been thinking about a daily theme on my blog posts. I often don't write because I just don't think I have anything to write about, perhaps by giving myself a theme this will clear some of my blog block.

So today I give you Tony Thursday, errr maybe I need to work on that name. Whatever. Tony Horton, that crazy dude that does the P90x, yea, I think I love him. After getting bored with Body For Life and then falling off the workout wagon for a few weeks I decided to just go for it, jump in and do the P90x even though I don't have anywhere to put a pullup bar and nevermind that I don't even have the strength to manage even 1 full pullup. The first week I literally thought I was going to die, of course I was also walking 3 miles every morning before starting and that really wore me out and made it hard on me. At the end of week one I ended up with a pretty bad finger injury (not due to the workouts, just my own stupidity) that meant I couldn't do the yoga nor use weights with my left hand. Ugh another week off!

Starting the count over again I jumped right back to it once my finger was capable of handling the dumbbells and yoga and pushup positions. That week was considerably easier, while still hard I at least was not exhausting myself before I even started. Week two was awesome! Now I am finishing up week 3 and my body is screaming at me. next week is an "easy week" to give the muscles some rest before they take another intense pounding. I added up how many pushups I did this Monday and shocked myself to find out I did at least 100! That is just incredible to me, especially considering how difficult some of the different positions are. I do find that I am much more tired this week and that is making my workouts a little harder. My body is just so sore, but it's a good sore, a good tired. My biceps are freaking amazing and my calves are looking pretty hot too. I just wish the midsection and thighs/bum would catch up. If anything can fix my abs I would say it has to be ab ripper x, that shit is intense and hard and serious crazy! After 3 weeks I am so close to be able to do all 25 reps for each position and that makes me very very happy. I look forward to the 30 day pictures and measurements next week!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

WIP Wednesday!

I got this fun idea from a fellow knitting friend to post what I am working on on Wednesdays. Since I have so many projects to work on over the next 6-8 weeks I thought it might help keep me focused. On Friday's I think I will add to that and post my finished projects for the week!

First wip and most important that I am currently working on is an Arachne Cardigan for my friend Tasha. I am a bit further along than this picture shows but not as far along as I would like to be. I am knitting it in my favorite German yarn Wollmeise colorway pesto





Next I am working on an Owlet sweater for the Pixie, no picture of it since it is currently only to the waistband ribbing but when finished will look like this only in purple



Third project, again not pictured but I will have one on Friday, is a pair of stripey socks knit for Xander in fun autumn colored striped of pumpkin & brown.

I try to keep my working projects to 1 charted pattern that needs my concentration and at least 1-2 easy patterns that I can work on in the car, in bed, or just when my brain needs a break! I wonder what next weeks wip Wednesday will have in store :-)

Monday, October 4, 2010

It Get's Better

It Get's Better is a project that has been started in support of LGBT teens in direct response to the recent suicides of several teens over the past 2 months due to the relentless teasing, harassing and bullying of their peers. It's a tragedy when in this day and age our teens have to fear for their lives, for their safety because they are different. They hear over and over how their high school years are the years they will look back on and miss the most, their golden years. So is it any wonder that when they hear something as ridiculous as this (I don't know about you but I don't know anyone who looks back fondly on their high school years) that they feel so hopeless. I mean if it doesn't get any better than that then what is there to live for, to look forward to.

STOP. High School SUCKS. That popular, pretty cheerleading captain that appears to have it all, it sucks for her. That student over there getting straight A's and has a lot of friends and extracurricular activities, who always has a smile on their face, yup sucks for him too. Look around you. Does everyone look exactly the same? Do they act the same, talk the same, dress the same? Nope. They are all different and unique and perfectly OK just the way they are. AND SO ARE YOU!

I am 100% behind this new project, but hope to see it expand. You see it's not just LGBT that deal with horrific bullying and harassment. Anyone that seems a little different also suffers. We need a project that gives all teens this message, it get's better. More than that is that we really need to focus on stopping what is happening, we need to STOP the bullying. So many workplaces offer these little clinics to talk about harassment but give me a break, by then it's too late. This needs to be started very early on. Tolerance needs to be taught, consequences need to be had. We can't make it better if we don't first focus on fixing what is broken.

Parents, you need to be involved with your kids! You need to know what is going on in their lives even if you think they don't want you to know, even if you feel they are shutting you out. Learn and know the warning signs that your child is being bullied, or is the one doing the bullying. It starts with you, it really does. You have the greatest impact on how your children behave and how they react to peer treatment. I really cannot stress this one point enough.

It get's better. No matter where you are in your life today, tomorrow it get's better.