UGH!

Here's some pics of us girls before church the other day. The Sock Expert REFUSED to let me put up any of the ones of her - though she is totally adorable!! It was a big step for me because the dress I'm wearing is NEW. That's right. Its new and I didn't even buy it on clearance. I got it at Ross. Laugh, but spending $20 on a dress was a stretch for me. I totally panicked buying it - almost didn't. I FEARED whether my husband would like it or not. As it turned out, he loved it and my friend Elasta Woman says its her favorite ever!! Whew - relief! So I figured I'd put up the pics :-) I am also over due to put up my bike pics and my NEW WET SUIT pics.......

The wetsuit is a crazy story!! I was lamenting our return from a super fun weekend as we headed home. (See "A GRRRReat Weekend" post) Anyway, my husband decides to stop at our favorite used sporting goods place on the way through the big city. I'm feeling all disheveled and frumpy. I can't bear to go in until I pluck out the unsightly chin hairs that have popped up on my face over the weekend. I'm disgustedly sporting "the pms bloat". My shorts are a size or two too big and have a bizarre hang to them. Am I painting you a good "frump feel?" Okay, so in I go not really wanting to be "seen".

I head straight over to the wet suits which I have eyed for the last several visits. The water is just soooo cold and its almost July!! How will I EVER get any training in with out one? So anyways, this guy comes up and says "I just got done doing the same thing!" He's all smiley and friendly. "Are you an open water swimmer?!?!" he asks. Of course I love being labeled "an open water swimmer" and I'm all about it because, after all, I am one. After a while I start to get some weird vibes. Maybe he's being too friendly? Naaa. I'm frump city here. He's just being polite. We both just love open water swimming. Not to mention my entire family is milling around and its a small store. He shows me his purchase. It has short sleeves. I tell him the sleeves hindered me with my last wet suit. He tells me to "work my guns" displaying a playful a muscle flex for me with a wink. One of the clerks possibly picks up on the awkwardness of the situation and hangs around adding in a few comments here and there. After a while the friendly swim guy moves on. I'm trying on my 3rd wet suit and feeling a bit befuddled. I wasn't expecting all that attention.

Then he comes back..... He has this silly head thing and asks me if I've ever used one. Now I know he can't possibly be serious. This is an excuse. I swallow. This is more than friendly. He starts acting silly and flirty. I swallow again feeling nervous. Is this guy actually flirting with me?! Then he starts giving advice on wet suit fit and brushes my waist with a mock pinch. Okay now about a million alarms go off and my face is beet red. I'm flattered, but ugh!! Doesn't this guy see my wedding ring on? Suddenly the guys intense, flashy eyes change from "pursue" to a look of sheer horror. I follow his eyes to behind me. There my entire family is standing and staring at him with protective stares and arms crossed. My husband, particularly, does not look happy. His giant biceps seem flexed and there is a bit of a twitch to his jaw. I kiss his cheek, smiling naturally. He puts a protective arm around me. I turn back and the flirter has fled in terror........... My husband buys me the wet suit (cool). I wander out the door wondering what I should have done differently.........

The Continual Feast

Surprisingly, the sun made an appearance this week. He was wayyyy late, like by a month. We had pre-planned "doing something" on that first long awaited day of 80 degree bliss. I even did my chores and got out running early so I could take FULL advantage. At first I thought we were going to stay home, but by 1pm (prime sun time) my husband says "lets go to such an such a lake." We all rushed around like crazy packing up for it. My mental calculator kept trying to figure out how much time i would miss in the car from the prime sunlight while driving there. I had been emotional that day anyway, and so while driving, I found out he had to go to another city first to pick up a car part. My eyes started tearing up and I asked myself "am I really crying about missing prime sunshine?" Shamelessly, I was.......... Don't ask me my age, I'm not telling.

Anyway, around 4pm we pulled up at the busy busy lake. The tip of the boat landing had a rather large, loud, obese and smoking family gathered there with lawn chairs. It was the best part to swim in for little kids. I thought to just pull up by them and tolerate the smoke and obscenities and stares but my daughter didn't want to. After forever, the men and boys loaded into boats and floated off. I took the truck to the only other available spot which was along the road. There was green slime in that part of the water and an old jar of fish eggs on shore. Reluctantly, I pulled out my sheet and placed it over a couple of rocks. Moonbeam dipped her toes in the water. Sock Fashion Expert popped some Benedryl and curled up to take a nap inside the truck, miserable. It was nearing 5pm by now, and the beautiful day had somehow slipped out of my fingers.

When Moonbeam insisted on hanging out in the middle of the road, I knew I was nearing the end of my sanity level. The day I had so anticipated was not turning out at all like I'd expected. It seemed like EVERYTHING was going wrong. Suddenly that overwhelmed release came and I started giggling. I reminded myself several times that a person with a merry heart has a "continual feast". I thanked God that I could soak up the sun - for the time I had now. I noticed the loud family had left and decided to drive back over there. Soon we were parked in their spot and had taken up residence there, watchful for boaters who wanted to use the landing. I relaxed while Moonbeam splashed around. I dove into the cool waters and felt refreshed, and again found my oasis on the sheet with a magazine and lime water. Sock Fashion Expert popped out of the truck and looked around. She didn't seem quite so miserable. Just as I felt completely relaxed, another large loud group pulled up behind me and a bunch of rowdy kids piled out. "Continual Feast" I said to myself. By then it was nearing 5:30 or 6pm. We ate our sandwiches and I decided not to care about the other smoking people playing loud music and yelling at their kids. Soon the men came back and we got ready to go. Super Catman's shorts got wet and he forgot to bring new ones. He had to wear his sisters. He was thoroughly disgusted with that turn of events.

On the way home, my husband decided to take the scenic route. It would take a couple of extra hours with stops. I was tired. "Continual Feast". We explored a realty property that my husband was curious about and my kids loved looking in the windows and peeking around. They seemed excited. At long last, around bedtime, we arrived home...... Things continued not to work out like I planned, but I kept trying hard to remember "Continual Feast". I lost it sometimes, but not as bad as I would have had my attitude been bad to begin with.

The next day I had to work all night. We couldn't make any plans. I felt mopey but started my chores. Then the phone rang. My friends wanted to meet me at the lake (the nearby one). All in all the day was a lot nicer. My husband even watched the baby while I floated out in the lake on a little blow up boat with Dear Elasta Woman. I felt kind of frumpy next to her lean bikini body, but I reminded myself "Continual Feast". We had a great conversation. Shes one of the very few I can actually talk to without holding back. She has more depth and she understands me. She's a good friend. When I had to leave, my husband came back with me. We had all rode bikes over and some of the kids were staying. He let me snuggle up to sleep on him and drool on his leg for half an hour before I had to leave........ When it was time I started bawling. Again, don't ask my age, I'm not telling. I badgered him about what he thought of my swimwear. He hates that and never complies with my insecurity. That sets me off. As I was saying, "Continual Feast". I tried to be thankful he let me drool on his leg and drove off to work. I had a good shift. Later that next day I put on my $3 second hand store bikini and layed out in the sun. My husband had a lot of nice things to say about it. I looked in the mirror. It wasn't half bad. Isn't it funny how just a different cut of material can give a totally different look to a person? Why my $3 bikini? Who knows. Continual Feast............................. Okay, your turn :-)

Proverbs 15:15 "All the days of the afflicted are evil, But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast."

work smerk

Everything takes blasted work!

Its been a muddy, wet June. Everybody started dieting in April and May. Not me. Nope. I knew better. You start dieting back then and you totally lose your motivation by the time real pre-swimsuit season hits - say Mid June? I'm not kidding, tho i wish i was ;-) Really, there has only been a handful of sun bronzing days so far. Most of them have been rain rain rain. I'm SUPER THANKFUL that the one nice weekend we had we got to camping. Anyhoo, in light of it being MID JUNE, I and my girlfriends decided it was time to start planning for swimsuit season. We launched a full scale assault on belly fat. One decided to eat 2 eggs for breakfast every morning and start running. Her goals - successful. The next - no bread. Her goals - well she changed them. Mine was to do 2 weeks of 1500 calories, then I added in a week of no bread.

It was a rather tumultuous week. I didn't have much energy when I was out running. I felt kind of ravenous at night, and I turned into a mutant zombie monster. My sister had the kind heart to talk some sense into me. She insists that my belly fat and love handles are supposed to be there ;-) Anyhow I am rethinking my pre-season swimsuit strategies and am, alas, again, open to suggestions. I just don't do well on diets when I am super active. I guess healthy is the better goal dang nabbit!! I did lose a lousy 2 lbs and 2 inches off my gutt..... BUT I WANNA BE SWIMSUIT READY!! Here's where I hit the floor kicking and bawling and throwing an all out tantrum...............

So, as I was saying, back to the drawing board for me. In other news, my husband bought me a cool new (used) bike. Its a Giant brand mountain bike which he acquired from the Lucky Logger Pawn and Dime or some such place. He made me go in and wheel and deal them tho - ugh! Theres nothing more fearsome than trying to bargain with a pawn shop owner ;-) Thankfully, the shrewd lady came down a good amount and I now have something better than a 10 year old $35 dollar clearance bike from Wal mart. Can't wait to ride it! We have plans in the future for a 20 mile loop ride and then a 40 mile trip to the nearby city. I'm excited to do the new challenges. Also have been running several days a week and getting in hard sit ups days half the time and chumpy easy ones the other half. I wish for the days of open water swim season, only God knows when they will arrive......

Marshmallowology

Our young subject agreed to participate in a study regarding what would happen should she sneak into the marshmallow bag unsupervised... hence our title post.
Note the first picture (the marshmallow high) and then comes the next one (the marshmallow crash). Does this ever happen to you? She even still has one in her hand - lol!!

Every time I put up a post on here, I wonder exactly "what did I do for the past week or two?" Despite the claims that my blog is "painfully boring", its actually a good form of accountability for me which is hopefully just a bi product - as I hope to motivate you as well!!

Last week seemed to fly by, though us girls did have a good accountability meeting and bronzed together in the sun afterward. I feel so blessed to have girlfriends who love the sun as much as I do ;-) Finding swimsuit season upon us, we decided to crack down for the next week or two. My resolution was to do 1500 cals a day again for a couple of weeks, but we all agreed that with the upcoming camping trip we would take the weekend off from our goals. After all, whats camping without a few hot dogs and s'mores?! I got a few runs in this week so far and also a couple last week, did my sit ups like a good girl (getting better about doing them before I am too sleepy for too many). Also got a good kayak trip in while we were camping. Now I'm bound to that 1500 calorie promise along with a bread (white flour) fast - ugh :-) Why do I always plan big anyway ?

So far I have been eating good - peaches and yogurt, salads, steamed broccoli with feta, cottage cheese and strawberries, corn on the cob - yum! It really hasn't been all that hard. Spending money on good food is a lot more beneficial than you would think, especially if you are wanting to lose weight and be healthy. You just feel good. I know so many people who skimp on fruits and vegetables saying they "can't afford" them, but the same people have money for soda, ramen noodles and all manner of things that have absolutely no nutrition. Those kinds of foods are not just non nutritious, they are harmful to our bodies. Sure a treat now and then is fine, but living on "treats" is no way to treat our body. Just a little food for thought - lol. I guess the marshmallow pics say it all ;-)

EXCUSE ME BUT HAVE YOU SEEN MAY?

I bet you don't know where the month went either?!?! BTW have you been feeling like this lately?! Yeah, me too......

A lot of rain and not a lot of ambition has been my challenge lately. Though i haven't stopped doing the sit ups as promised, the days i'm getting 200 in along with push ups and other ab work are dwindling. Lately they've been a token 25 before falling asleep - ugh!! Gotta get outa that slump!

On the upside, I did get some good runs in the last few days. Not willing to let last weekend go to Miss Belly Fat with all the good eating out I was doing at my women's conference I opted to go work out on the motel tread mill after my buddie went to bed and had my swimwear under that for laps in the pool. I do love Hampton Inn's open all night policy. Despite my humongous meals at Sizzler and Famous Daves, I had something to redeem myself a little with ;-) I also felt good about myself rather than disgusted........

For all the excitement about my wild kayak adventure, flooding and more bear stories, revert to my other blog :-) Also my husbands mission to find me a good bike. I am just sooo excited for that to happen. I've been riding around this $35 bike I bought 12 years ago. I tried giving it away 3x and 3x people have given it back to me - lol!! Hopefully that will be the center of an upcoming post :-)

I don't know about you but doesn't it feel encouraging just putting away clothes that are several sizes smaller than last year and the year before? Count your blessings before starting your next organized attack against belly fat!! You have come along way :-)

BLOW OUT!

The girls and I on a hike (see Big Foot in the swamp?)

i can hardly believe i haven't posted on here for 2 weeks! Time flies and especially with the weather getting nicer, I haven't wanted to be the computer. i'm also enjoying being less anal about writing everything down. Consequently, I have done mostly my 200 sit ups along with push ups, backward push ups and side planks most nights. Once in while when i'm sleepy i do 25 and call it good. I think since Jan 1st i have only forgotten to do them 3 days.

Today my daughter and i attempted a 20 mile bike ride loop. Her tire popped around mile 12 and we had to be rescued by a friendly local Doctor who hauled us over to the Mercantile. There we waited till my husband came to intercept us. We were bummed we didn't get to do the whole thing but grateful for all the help!

I've put in a few 7 mile runs, a shorter one, and also some run/walking with the baby in the stroller. Mostly I've been concerned about working on my tan since we had a few sunny days ;-) Flooding here in the valley has put some peoples houses up as islands. The Kayak calls my name in hope of adventure. I'm a little nervous kayaking through flood waters, but my sense of adventure will win out - i just know it!! Yesterday a couple of kids took a kayak and brought some creme pie to a neighbor who is surrounded. He can only get out by boat right now but he doesn't seem too worried.

There's been a lot of drama - between flood waters, bear encounters (see my other blog), another bear adventure (our friends had a grizzly terrorize their home with many return trips, even killing almost all their chickens), and such, there is a lot to write about. I just don't feel like sitting here and doing it ;-) I hope you are all well here in blog land. Sorry i've been blog visiting delinquent. I am hoping with this rainy week I will get read up on some of them.

Bloomsday 2011 RUN!!

Showing off our Finisher T's
My friend "Bubbles"

No Girls Day Extravaganza would be complete without trying on clothes at Ross!!

Check out our Olive Garden choices post race ;-)

This one was mine....mmmm.......

Quick shot at the finish line "I'm feelin' good!!" My finishing time was 1 hr and 23 mn for the 7 1/2 mile run. Not bad for my first time :-)

Vulture at the top of mile 5's "Doomsday Hill"

Pre-race we were corralled into blocks according to color and speed projection. Its the "biggest micro chipped race in America with 50,000 people participating in the event!!

Quick pre-race shot.

First of all, i have to apologize to anybody stumbling across my blog for the first time for its terrible boring format. I have decided to bit the bullet and change things a little. I had been using it as a kind of "accountability" if you will, for doing my sit ups and other exercise endeavors. I have decided that it is so painfully BORING that nobody can bear to read it. With that said, i can laugh at myself and find a new writing style..... From now on, i will just try to summarize the week rather than give a day by day account.

The drum roll please.... Here goes :

- Well my last post was April 22nd. I did sit ups for every day except for one. My average amount is 200, with 10 push ups, 10 backward push ups and 50 knee/elbows. A few of those days i was tired and only did 25, and one day i spaced it out all together.

- Most of my running stopped after the 22nd. I tried just walking a mile most of those days because i had read to take the last week "real easy".

- On the 23rd my friend Elasta Woman and I went through some crazy "Fitness Magazine" tests to find out our athletic prowess score and i just barely made "Super Star Status". Some how that should make me feel extra special ;-)

On May 1st you see my exciting "Bloomsday" pics!! Its the first thing like this i had ever done!! My friend, "The Dolphin Goddess", and i had planned going together since January or so. The last week she cancelled due to a knee injury. Time stopped and I had to trust God real hard wondering what i was going to do!! Then i thought about my co-worker, who i have taken the liberty to name "Bubbles" because she is so bubbly and fun!! She had had her buddy cancel too and so we went down together. Turns out it was a super fun day and i now have a cool new friend!! Nothing like chicks bonding with pasta, shopping and sweat ;-) We even got to go to the Bloomsday worship service that was held on a floating stage. The whole day was just so much fun. Like i said, i had never done anything like this before. Scads of people were cheering, high fiving us and giving us all kinds of support all along the side lines the whole way. Bands played every quarter of a mile. Everything from an elderly accordion player to teen rock bands to rhythm players. It was just an incredible feast of music. Church bodies waved and played worship with "God loves you" signs. Some guy in a lawn chair was giving out "free beer". A mix of cultures came together and every body was there for one reason - to show support for the runners and the event. Bloomsday supports the local Hospice there and it was obvious it was a cause that many felt passionate about.

As for my running, well, like I said, it was all new to me, but "Bubbles" and I were pretty evenly paced. We ran together pretty well. I had a lot of energy and felt good, amazingly, the whole time!! Toward the last mile or so suddenly I got a real energy spurt and just had to run it hard!! Especially the last half mile, I couldn't hold myself back. When I crossed the finish line, I felt like I could run a few more miles. I never imagined in a million years I'd feel so good. All the cheering and music and support was just such a pep boost for everybody there. Anyhow, it was a really extra special day for me and I am thankful it all went so wonderfully well!!