A New Commitment

This is what 6 weeks of hard work and learning how to eat healthy food looks like

Twelve Pounds and Ten Inches gone 

I’ve struggled with my weight and body image for a great deal of my life. I’ve always attempted to be active with varying success and have been “donating” to the local Y for 7 years. Dieting has caused me to gain and lose the same 10-15 pounds over and over again (with Medifast & Atkins), because it wasn’t sustainable.  I gained 40 pounds over the past 10 years (not including my pregnancy, which put me into the 60-70 lb range).

Around my birthday, Gina Notes (a friend of my cousin-in-law Meg, that I met at Pat & Meg's wedding) sent me a message asking if I wanted to join a health and fitness Challenge Group. I had been giving some serious thought to my health and weight lately, as I had just lost and regained the same 5 pounds in the last month. I have hypothyroidism and have been on medication for years – the condition makes it harder for me to lose weight, among other things. Diabetes also runs in my family, as does high blood pressure and cholesterol, which have both been steadily creeping up over the years.

I had recently seen some Facebook posts from an old classmate who had recently undergone an amazing transformation with the 80 Day Obsession program. After being inspired by her, I decided to say yes to Gina and commit to my health.

I joined her April challenge group and completed one round of the 21 Day Fix program without straying from the program at all. At the end of those 3 weeks, I had lost 7” and 7 pounds. Since then I have lost an additional 3” and 5 pounds by (mostly) following the Fixate healthy meal plan. It’s not easy. At the end of the 3 weeks, I had a few cheats. And then Memorial Day weekend happened, and I had more cheats.

The truth is that I felt like crap after my cheat days. My body felt wrong and I felt guilty. I have changed my mindset with my cheats. I now consider them a treat instead of a cheat, and I don’t overindulge. If you know me, you know that I love food and eating. I’m now just trying to eat the right kinds of foods now and to find some balance in my diet. 

All of that said, instead of drinking the Kool-Aid, I’m officially drinking the Shake-O. It’s true, I’ve decided to become a Beachbody Coach. I just ordered Beachbody's new 2B Mindset Nutrition program and will be trying that out along with some of their other programs (I'm pretty pumped for their LIIFT4 program - just four days a week AND a cheat day??? I LOVE IT!!).

I still have another 20+ pounds to go to get back to the weight I was ten years ago, but my biggest goal is to just keep eating well and staying active (pushing play as the BB Mantra goes). 

Don't worry, I'm not going to become a crazy Beachbody person who is constantly posting sweaty selfies on Facebook and Instagram. I'm just looking forward to helping others on their journey. I've always thought that I was pretty disciplined and could do anything that I set my mind to. It turned out that I needed a tribe, positive words, encouragement, and the daily accountability of checking in to my challenge group. Even better, the workouts are 30 minutes or less a day. It's not rocket science. Anyone can do it, and I love that there is a program for everyone.

So I'll be starting my own challenge group in the next few weeks. There is an early access to the LIIFT4 program that starts in July that I think I will do. I'm really not looking at this as any major way to earn income - I just want additional accountability for myself and to support people who need it. I think that this will satisfy my long-held desire to inspire others and help them reach their full potential. 

My why: helping others makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and as a a slightly older mom, I want to be able to keep up with my kid for many years to come. 

Weekend fun

So I finally broke open the winemaking kit that Jay got me for Christmas last year! It's much easier than I realized. Kinda makes me want to grow my own grapes.

At the very least, the first stage was pretty easy. After a few more days, we'll read the specific gravity of the mixture to make sure that the fermenting is ready to move on to the next stage. The wine will go into the carbiner and get some stuff added to it next. It should be ready to bottle for aging in early December. It will make over two cases!

This morning I ran the SeaWitch 5k. It was lots of fun... very low-key and a great course. Nice scenery and most importantly, it was flat. I felt that I was much faster than last time but not according to my running app. Then again, I was running in costume and had to stop or slow down to nearly stopped a few times to put my dagger back in the holder or fix my skirt. 

The exciting news is that I ran for the entire first mile, which I don't think I've ever done before. I ran the first mile in 12:41 according to my app. I wish that I had paced myself a little better, but overall I'm proud of how I did. I haven't seen the official results yet, but I'm expecting to be around 40 minutes again.

                            

We're badass pirates. 

                           

This was post-race... look, we don't even look winded. We could just keep on running... HA!

There are a few more runs in my future... I'm definitely planning on the Turkey Trot next month. After all, it's only two miles. Hell, I might even be able to run the entire time. The week after the Turkey Trot is the run for hospice in Easton. Of course, that's assuming that I'm off work on that day. We'll see I guess.

25 Things Update

Life has been so great this year that I nearly forgot my quasi-resolutions from the beginning of the year!

Here is an update:

1. Be more positive
   I'd like to think that I am doing a much better job of this. If I had to pick one reason that I've been successful, it's that I have much more realistic expectations - of people in general (including myself). I've also pushed my comfort level with some of the things that I've done and challenged myself. My fear of heights? I repelled into a cave. My fear of deep water? I'm now a certified PADI Open Water Diver and have been down to 40 feet with no problems. 
2. Lose ~13% of body weight (or eat healthier and exercise at least 3x a week)
   I have no idea what I weigh right now and honestly, I don't much care. I think that earlier this year I was so focused on the numbers on the scale that I lost sight of what being healthy is. I started running again, am trying to swim regularly, and I try to eat better. This is not to say that I'm perfect, but I am happier with where I am today than where I was a year ago.
3. Start a few plants from seed for the garden
   Due to that Australia trip, we kind of screwed up the garden.
4. Come up with a new budget and stick to it
   This is a work in progress, but I am happy to report that we are doing pretty well with the budget. We were doing better before SCUBA on this. Turns out that diving is an expensive hobby. Once we acquire all of our gear, we shouldn't be spending quite as much. At any rate, we have a budget. And we also started a new savings goal with Smarty Pig. They earn a fantastic rate (1% APY!) and deposits are FDIC insured. Although we currently have more than enough in our savings account for our Emergency Savings Fund, we decided to take some money and move it to Smarty Pig. We'll be putting 6% of our income into that account and should have our Emergency Fund built up to ~5 months of expenses by early 2015. We will be opening additional savings goals with Smarty Pig for vacations and furniture, which brings me to #5.
5. Get rid of the red couch and chair that I freaking HATE
   We still have them. Unfortunately. I can't wait to give that crap away. I thought that we'd found a sucker someone to take that junk  them, but apparently their apartment fell through. Here is what I want to replace it with: Witiker Brown Reclining Sofa Set. The cool thing with SmartyPig is that you can convert your savings to gift cards and get additional $$ with it. So I could get an extra 7% ($112 off of the couch) if I chose to redeem my savings with an Overstock.com gift card. Not too shabby!
6. Purchase new furniture and decorate downstairs
   That's a work in progress. Downstairs is fairly well decorated. We also ended up with an extra dining room table and some other furniture. In my opinion, it doesn't go that great with what we have, but it belonged to Jay's grandparents, so we will keep it in the family.
7. Put together a time capsule for our house
   I have this, we just need to put it into a closet and cover it up.
8. Blog at least twice a week
   I think I've been okay with this. If I average 2 posts a week, then I should have 104 at the end of the year. I suppose I'd better pick it up in November and December. I have 25 left for the year.
9. Get organized - important documents, books, seasonal items, etc.
   This is also a work in progress. We've finally found a good system for our important documents, but I need to go through some stuff. Seasonal items are in the attic. We're also going to need to find a good spot to stow our scuba gear.
10. Be in good enough shape to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (aka Mount Doom) in New Zealand
    I definitely would have hiked Mount Doom if it weren't for the snowstorm happening while we were there. Next time we'll visit in Summer! So yeah, I think I can mark this one off. 
11. Raise a small flock of chickens for meat (at least six)
    We kind of did this. There are two roosters in our freezer right now and we've decided to cull the last rooster and have nothing but hens. I get to help with the last one. Gulp.
12. Sell some eggs, otherwise we'll be overrun when the new chickens start laying
    Did this! Although these new chickens are kind of slackers. I thought we'd be getting 12-20 eggs a day, but we're getting more like 6-8.
13. Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, even though I'm scared of being eaten by a shark|
    Even better, I dove the Great Barrier Reef and became a certified diver. OH. And I even saw sharks while diving. Carpet sharks and a reef shark. And I didn't freak out - it was awesome.
14. Snuggle a koala
    Did this and have photographic proof.
15. Install the heat pump downstairs
    We went without heat downstairs (except for the pellet stove) that I forgot this was even installed! We turned it on earlier this week when I was chilly.
16. Make room in the budget for a cleaning service
    Not sure if we'll do this. We're going to see if we can handle cleaning ourselves with a schedule.
17. Get the crawl space insulated
    This is undecided. We're going to see how we get through this winter to see how badly it really needs it. 
18. Have photos done and send Christmas cards out this year
    In process. We may take photos ourselves or get Laura to do them.
19. Fence in yard
    We are 95% done. Just a few places left that we need fencing.
20. Hatch out some silkie and black/red star mixes
    Did this and are eating them - 11. They were ALL roosters.
21. Say no and not feel guilty afterwards
    I am doing so much better at this.
22. Have an awesome time at the Mardi Gras Ball
    It was a fun time. Next year will be better and less work. We've learned a lot.
23. Can tomatoes from our garden
    No garden = no tomatoes.
24. Print "before" collages to frame and hang in the house
    Still need to do this. When I tried to do this, the computer spazzed out on me.
25. Use at least one week of our time share
    We planned to do this, but then learned that it would be cheaper to use Leslie and Bob's Shareholder status. We'll be going to Puerto Plata with two other couples during the second week of December.

Weekend plans

The hubby and I are supposed to have date night tonight. Date night last month was canceled because our friend Brian came to visit. One advantage to having date night on the first Friday of the month is that we get bonus points on our Chase Sapphire Preferred Card for anything we spend dining.

Jay wants to do something active. I'm not so sure that my body is up for much more than a walk. I've been good. Too good. Since last Friday, I have only had one day off of active. Couch 25k runs were on Friday, Monday, and Thursday (yesterday). Last Saturday I went kayaking and did the ropes course. Tuesday I went to Pilates with Angela, where my hip was making horrifying noises and gave me quite a lot of trouble. Wednesday is our SCUBA night, which burns a ton of calories.

I also suffer from migraines. Over the past week, I have had no less than four. I woke up with one this morning as well. I have been burning through the Imitrex, believe me. I had ONE beer this week. My boss joked that maybe I was getting so many migraines because I wasn't drinking enough.

This is the only drink I had this week

So let's just say that tonight I am really not feeling up to being active. I want to have dinner somewhere nice, go on a stroll through town, then go home and watch a movie. 

If the hubs insists on doing something active, I am going to suggest that we go to the Caroline County Fair, where we can watch the Dress a Goat and Greased Pig contests. I'm pretty sure that they also have a rock wall on the fairgrounds, so if he wants to be active, he can climb that while I watch.

Tomorrow, I'll be helping with setup for Fiber Fest and then hopefully we will be going down to the beach. Also on tap for this weekend: marshmallow making and rooster eating. 

Couch 25k First Week

Tonight I did my third run of Couch 25k. I'm so glad that I have two days to rest... I pushed myself a little too hard tonight and am pretty sore. 

But you know what? I'm not dead yet!

Sunday I'll start week two. Hopefully I'll be more patient next week and not push myself so hard.

This is my first day. Actually wasn't too bad.

My second day was awful... it was hot, I felt like crap and I was exhausted. I was just happy to survive.

Today felt like the best day and obviously it was based on my average speed and everything. However, my body is paying for it. I stupidly threw in a few intervals of higher intensity running when I shouldn't have. Consequently, my knees and feet aren't very happy with me at the moment. Progress not perfection. I need to remember this. I'm not going to be able to run a 5k tomorrow or even next week. I have to build up to it or I'm going to hurt myself (as usual). 

Last night was our first SCUBA class and as luck would have it, we had our swim test. In order to get your open water certification, you're required to swim 200 yards (untimed and any style) and float/tread water for ten minutes. Thinking of my previous exercises of death in the pool, I thought "no problem." Hell, I was swimming 100 yards using just my arms and not kicking. I neglected to remember that the last time that I did exercises of death in the pool was two months ago. Yeah. Oops. So my bad-ass self decides to go into the locker room and grab my goggles so that I can show my 15 classmates (who have already started) what an awesome swimmer I am. 

Did I mention that all 15 of us were also confined to two lanes because the college wasn't prepared for us? Talk about a total clusterf*ck.

By the time I re-entered the pool area, everyone had already completed about 100 yards of their swim. No big deal, right? I dove in. The water was as warm as bathwater. Gross. Right after I dove in, my band-aid started flopping around. Great. I'd just had blood drawn at the doctor's office before class, so I ripped off the band-aid and started swimming with the latex-cotton-mess in my fist. Not sure if you've ever swam with a closed fist before, but it's not too easy. I passed a few of my classmates, trying to make up for my time out of the pool and catch up... but not so easily done with my closed fist. On the start of my 3rd lap, I saw Jay coming towards me in the next lane (finishing his swim). I begged him to take my soggy blood-soaked band-aid. It took some convincing, but he's a pretty awesome husband. 

I was finally free to use both my hands effectively.

About 100 yards into my swim, I started to suck air. The pool was too warm, I'd just eaten Chipotle, and I'd had an awful run the day before. I stopped trying to impress everyone and flipped on to my back. By this time, everyone was out of the water and watching the stragglers finish. Swimming on my back was too easy. I was trying so hard to get it over with that I wasn't paying attention and whacked myself in the head at the end of the pool. After that fiasco, I decided to watch where I was going so that I didn't run into any more walls. The problem is that I'm not very good at the crawl and am much better at the breast stroke. Which of course is slower and requires more energy. So everyone watched as I took my sweet ass time on the last 50 yards. But I refused to doggy paddle. And I passed the test. 

So this week I've had two wins. I'll take them.

No big plans for this weekend, which is just what I need.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

101 List

My new 101 list has been posted... check it out!

It's been a busy few days... I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. I started Couch 25k yesterday and ended up doing about 2 miles in the time allotted. Not too shabby. Unfortunately I overdid it last night dancing... my legs are killing me today. My fitbit says that I had 18,000 steps for the day. No wonder I'm sore.

More Words Wednesday - The Healthier Me Edition

Okay, so just a few words.

The weight loss plateau has been a huge PITA. I've been so focused on the numbers on the scale that I've neglected to see the changes in my body.

Top right: Wedding - July 2012  Top left: Niagara Falls - August 2011

Bottom left: February 2013 (two weeks after start of diet) Bottom right - June 2012

Total weight loss: 12 pounds and holding...  8 pounds until I'm no longer considered "overweight"

Please be kind... I have no make-up on!

Left photo: April 1st.  Right photo:  May 1st. More tan and slightly leaner, yet I weigh the same.

But here's the thing. Last night at the pub, two of my friends joked about how big my biceps were. I'd just finished an 800 yard swimming exercise of death that my friend Sherye had given me. Haven't drowned yet.

I'm not sure if it's the swimming or the post hole digging over the weekend, but yes, my arms are looking more strong.

Please pardon the goofy facial expressions

I will keep tracking my weight, but I will instead focus more on how my clothes are fitting, eating healthy, and continuing to exercise regularly.

I'm not going to be as strict with tracking my food and exercise while we're on vacation. I think that I'll keep a handwritten journal of exercise, but besides that I don't think I'll be tracking too much. I'm planning to be active while we're there so as long as I don't gain, I should be okay.

Only ten nine days until we leave for vacation. I'm saying nine, since we'll be in NJ next Friday for a wedding. Initially I was annoyed that we are missing another day in Australia, but it will be nice to hang out with some fun people the day before we leave. It will be the perfect kickoff to 21 days of R&R&A (rest, relaxation and a healthy dose of adventure too!). I need them and goshdarnit, I deserve them.

More chickens, more injuries

I’m afraid that some of my new babies are mean little assholes.

I came home from work a few weeks ago to find one of my white marans chicks covered in blood with a degloved neck. She was a little over two weeks old. Her buddies caused this injury by pecking the hell out of her. Poor baby. Apparently once they see blood, they keep at it. It can get pretty nasty.

(BTW, do NOT look at "degloving injuries" under Google images - you'll be sorry!!)

I’m sorry for the graphic images, but I hope that this kind of info might help someone else whose chick ends up with a similar injury.

My first thought was that she was a goner. However, she seemed happy, so I wasn’t going to give up on her.

I separated her from the others and put her in a bin in our tub. I crushed up a tiny amount of aspirin for her water and put some triple antibiotic ointment on the wound. In hindsight, I wish that I had irrigated it with saline or watered-down betadine solution to get out anything that may have been in the wound.

She wasn’t thrilled with the antibiotic ointment and shook her head like a wet dog every time it was applied. I ended up wearing a fair amount of it each time I put it on. She also liked to scratch at the wound with her foot, which was just awful to watch. Ugh. I tried to put some nonstick dressing on it, but getting it to stay was pretty much impossible, so I gave up.

I applied the ointment every morning and evening. The entire time she was eating and drinking normally like nothing had happened. She kept flying out of her bin and pooping everywhere. NBD, just hanging out with this giant hole in my neck. She was also lonely and incredibly sweet. She peeped incessantly until you would hold her. Every time I would pick her up, she would run up my arm and nestle into my neck. 

One day I didn’t get a chance to do the ointment in the morning and by the time I checked on her at night, the wound had started to scab over. It had been 5 or 6 days, so I decided to leave it alone and let it continue the healing process.

The wound continued to scab over and heal. After she’d been separated from her tormentors (who were moved out to the new coop) for about 9 days, I decided to attempt a reintroduction. After all, as I mentioned - she was flying out of her tub and crapping EVERYWHERE. She had become quite the sweet annoyance. So I sprayed BluKote over her wound and the area around the wound to discourage picking and pecking. It didn’t go very well initially. The big meanies started pecking at her again and she made no attempt to get away from them.

So I grabbed a cat carrier and threw her in it inside the coop. That way they could see her, but they couldn’t get to her. Yesterday morning I went in to change her food and water and she flew out. She went up to some of the other chicks and started pecking at them and basically acting a little crazy. They seemed to be leaving her alone, so I crossed my fingers and went to work. When I got home, she was doing great. There were no new marks on her and she seemed like she was getting along with everyone.

So that is the happy story of our little white marans chick Lucky. We hope to have no more misadventures with the new flock of babies, who turned five weeks old yesterday.

New coop and attached run

We are hoping to officially introduce the big girls to the little ones this coming weekend. They have had supervised visitation over the last week and the little ones seem to know to stay out of the way. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we can get everyone into the same living quarters this weekend – before our trip. Although we don’t actually leave for Australia until next Saturday, we are leaving for NJ and a friend’s wedding on Friday.

Fortunately we have a small army to take care of all the critters. A book club friend's daughter is taking care of the critters, and if she can't make it either my friend or her fiance (who is the E.D. for the Humane Society) will stop by. There are a few other friends who have offered to stop by and check on things too. So I know that we're leaving our house and pets in good hands.

I’ve started to pack and have been making good progress. I had been having nightmares about forgetting things for the past few weeks, so I decided that I needed to take some action.

Exercise and diet have still been good - exercise moreso than the diet. I've had a few cheating days with the diet, but I've still been averaging at or under 50-70 net grams of carbs a week. I'm swimming one or two days a week, walking and doing the elliptical one or two days a week, and over the weekend, I used the post hole digger for a few hours. Let me tell you, that is HARD work. I don't think I could cut it if I had to do manual labor. 

My weight is still at a plateau, but I feel like I'm more fit and healthy than I was a month ago when the plateau started. I don't have any good recent pics of me, because I avoided cameras for the latter part of last year. For real. I felt huge and tried to stay behind the camera instead of in front of it. For my Wordless Wednesday post, I'll be posting some of the few recent-ish photos from the last year or two, plus a current mirror self-portrait. They're all the rage on Facebook, you know. Maybe I'll even do the pouty face!

Wordful Wednesday – The Dreaded Plateau

So I’ve been rather depressed about my weight loss lately. Or rather, the lack thereof.

It’s been frustrating. I’ve been tracking food religiously, eating under my daily calories, and exercising pretty much every other day.

Using the Lose It app, I should be losing about 1 lb per week.

 No, I haven’t measured my food. Maybe I should. But still, I think that I’ve been doing a great job.

  

That said, with my recent health scare, I haven’t really been doing Atkins. It’s too high in saturated fat and I was eating a lot of sodium on the diet. However, I haven’t abandoned the Atkins principals. I’ve been watching my carbs and have been staying away from refined sugars and that sort of thing. I’m still trying to eat more salads, veggies and lean meat. Over the past 4 weeks, I have averaged between 30 and 50 net grams of carbs per day (fiber is subtracted from carbs for net carbs).

Why the lack of weight loss? As of last week, I had actually GAINED two pounds back from my low weight at the end of March. I think that since I stopped being as restrictive with my carbs (<20 g per day) that I lost the diuretic effect of Atkins. 

Not having the diuretic effect is fine with me, if it means that I’m really losing fat. Next week I’m expecting to see the scale continue its downward climb. I’m at 11 pounds of weight lost over 9 weeks. That’s still pretty good in my book, so I’ll just keep at it.

Steroids are nasty

So I’m pretty sure that my high blood pressure was caused by a combination of pain and the methylprednisolone that I was put on to relieve the pain from my swollen tonsils. This stuff is evil.

I took my last dose of the stuff last Thursday and my blood pressure has been slowly coming back down. But by Friday it had not decreased enough for my concerned coworkers and I had significantly different BP readings from my left and right arms, which apparently is a bad sign. So they gave me an EKG.

Nothing like having to lift up your boob for your coworker to stick electrodes under. The EKG was abnormal, but not heart attack kind of abnormal. My doctor friend who reviewed it said that it was probably nothing and could be connected to the steroids, but that I definitely needed to see my PCP about the high blood pressure. At the doctor yesterday, they took another abnormal EKG and numerous blood pressure readings. By the time I had finally calmed down, it was down to 128/88. Much better than my previous readings of 140/110 and 158/108. Goes to show you how much pain and stress can affect those things. 

My primary care physician agreed that it was most likely nothing, but she is sending me to a cardiologist for an evaluation and stress test just in case. On my 33^rd birthday, I get to go see Dr. Okun. 

This is not how I envisioned spending part of my birthday, but oh well. Jay is probably happy because it means that I’m bailing on book club and now we get to go to dinner instead. And since we’ll be on “the other side of the bridge,” we will have plenty of great restaurant options in Annapolis and Baltimore. I’m sure that everything will be okay, but it will be nice to have him with me at my appointment.

All of that said, I’m not really sure what is going on with my diet right now. I’ve been committed to recording everything I eat with LoseIt, and have remained under my target calories for the past 8 weeks. However, somehow I’ve gained 2 pounds in the last week, while as long as I stick to my plan, I should be losing a pound a week. I think it is probably all water retention from the steroids and that this time of the month isn’t great for me. So I’m trying to be patient. I'm still exercising every other day, if not every day. I've been walking, doing the elliptical, and swimming. Over the weekend I did the stationary cycle and used the rowing machine. So my body seriously needs to get its act together.

Since I’m not sure how the diet is affecting me health-wise, I am trying to keep my saturated fats and sodium low. I caved a bit in the carbs department, but I haven’t completely caved to the point of eating pizza, French bread and French fries. But I did have a rough day last Friday. I had two tater tots, a big slice of delicious pineapple, part of a chocolate dipped banana from Edible Arrangements  and several fried green beans. And too many cocktails at Harry’s. I’m now trying to keep around/under 40-60 net grams of carbs a day and under or around 20 grams of saturated fat a day. My current struggle is with nuts. I am shoveling fistfuls of almonds and walnuts into my mouth. I convince myself that since almonds and walnuts are heart healthy that eating a pound in one sitting is perfectly acceptable.

Okay, I may be exaggerating with eating an entire pound of nuts, but I haven't exactly been counting them out.

In other news, we are running out of time to figure out who is taking care of our critters while we’re away. 

Mind you, this is when we LAND in Brisbane. We are down to 31 days before our flight leaves.

Normally I’d be fine with asking our friends to take care of the chickens, but three weeks is a lot to ask of someone. Plus this vacation is going to require cleaning litter boxes, and I don’t want to ask that of my friends. When you’re spending over ten grand on a vacation, another few hundred bucks for a pet/house sitter shouldn’t be an issue. However, Jay still won’t make a decision on whether he is going to ask a slightly odd guy he knows from the Masons. So I think he just wants me to take care of it. I sent out a message to our book club to ask for recommendations… some of the women have college age kids who might want to earn a few easy bucks. Fingers crossed.

My aunt Nancy has been sending these photos almost daily. I can almost smell the salt in the air.

This picture was taken FROM A McDONALD'S! Seriously, how beautiful is this place that even the McDonald's has this kind of view?

25 Things - Update on Progress

At the beginning of the year, I posted my goals/quasi-resolutions... here is an update on how I'm doing:

1. Be more positive
   I think that I'm getting there. Honestly, therapy has helped me a lot... I do what I can, try to understand others and their motivations, then let the rest of it go.
2. Lose ~13% of body weight (or eat healthier and exercise at least 3x a week)
   I'm at 5.11% of my body weight. That's progress! I've also exercised at least 3 times a week for the last few weeks. I'll take it.
3. Start a few plants from seed for the garden
   I have the starter seed kit, I just need to figure out when to start the stuff. 
4. Come up with a new budget and stick to it
   I've figured out the budget - next update will tell you if I stuck to it. :)
5. Get rid of the red couch and chair that I freaking HATE
   Ugh, not yet.
6. Purchase new furniture and decorate downstairs
   Also not yet. I have to make sure that it fits with #4.
7. Put together a time capsule for our house
   I have it, but it's sitting downstairs on my kitchen counter. It doesn't need to go in until we finish the drywall in my old bedroom's closet.
8. Blog at least twice a week
   Failing that one. Oops.
9. Get organized - important documents, books, seasonal items, etc.
   Maybe later this year. I'm just happy to have my house mostly in one piece!
10. Be in good enough shape to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (aka Mount Doom) in New Zealand
    Definitely not yet. We leave in 50 days, so I think that should be enough time as long as I stick with those 3x a week workouts.
11. Raise a small flock of chickens for meat (at least six)
    This is gonna be a tough one. Not sure if I'll ever be able to do this.
12. Sell some eggs, otherwise we'll be overrun when the new chickens start laying
    Later this year... probably August or September when the new girls start laying.
13. Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, even though I'm scared of being eaten by a shark
    Oh it's gonna happen! Flights are booked, baby!
14. Snuggle a koala
    Also going to happen at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in less than 2 months!
15. Install the heat pump downstairs
    This is finally happening tomorrow! I can't wait to have whole house HVAC!!
16. Make room in the budget for a cleaning service
    Not sure about this... I'm thinking that now that the house is completed, it's a lot easier to keep clean. Also, if we get a normal driveway and make some landscaping improvements, it will be much easier to keep our floors clean.
17. Get the crawl space insulated
    Yeah, yeah. It'll happen one day. Maybe soon. Maybe later. But someday this year.
18. Have photos done and send Christmas cards out this year
    Maybe I should make my appointment with Laura Dye  now so that I don't slack on this one. I want the cats and chickens in our "family" photo. I think that would be awesome! Maybe an American Gothic kinda thing in front of the house. But with Jay in his turnout gear (shirtless with suspenders would be HILARIOUS) and me with a chicken under one arm and a cat under the other. 
19. Fence in yard
    This is going to happen, although not sure if it will happen before or after the trip
20. Hatch out some silkie and black/red star mixes
    They're hatching tomorrow! Squee! :)
21. Say no and not feel guilty afterwards
    I've been doing that more often. Really.
22. Have an awesome time at the Mardi Gras Ball
    I did have an awesome time, although I must say that I was quite happy and relieved when it was all over. I was even happy to clean up the next day!
23. Can tomatoes from our garden
    Gotta plant them first. And put up a fence so that the chickiepoos don't eat them.
24. Print "before" collages to frame and hang in the house
    I started to get some of these together. I need to make this happen.
25. Use at least one week of our time share
    We are planning to take a group vacation to the Dominican at the end of the year, but when I wrote to the timeshare people, they told me that they couldn't confirm a villa for us until a month out. GRRR. So in all likelihood, we will be using another person's timeshare to make sure that we get what we want. I'm quite irked by the whole thing.

Tom Petty had it right

The waiting really is the hardest part.

 The good news is that we are officially approved for the refinance and the commitment letter has been signed. The bad news is that we are still waiting for the appraisal, which is a condition of the approval. As each day passes, I get more anxious about our home’s value. On Wednesday, our loan officer said that the appraisal was in the review process with the in-between company and that hopefully it would be released tomorrow. Gah!! Well, it’s Friday and the main thing standing between an incredibly fast closing is this stupid appraisal. The appraisal could make or break this refinance. If the appraiser wants to be picky, she could throw in a bunch of things like we have to install railings for our steps or repaint/cover the fascia and soffit. Or maybe she could throw in other things that I haven’t even thought of or noticed.

We’ve wanted to finish the fascia for quite some time, but didn’t know anyone who had a brake. We were not planning to repaint the wood yet again. The plan was to cover the wood with metal, which stands up to the elements much better than wood. It also stands up to birds much better. And squirrels. These critters love to gnaw and peck through wood and nest in our attic. We also haven’t installed railings yet because we are planning to get rid of the brick steps and replace them with wood. So obviously we will do those things, but we just have been busy with the inside of the house. So if we have to do those things first, it will probably put us out another few weeks with the refinance. We’ll have to get the work done and then the appraiser will have to come back out and confirm that those things have been taken care of. I would hope that she would be more lenient since it’s a refinance and not a new purchase.

Part of my relentless obsession over the dollar amount of the appraisal? How much was all of this work really worth? The blood, sweat, tears, stress and the amount of money that we actually put into the house. Will it pay off? Would it have been cheaper to tear the whole thing down and start over? Emotionally, I don't think I could have done that. This was the place I grew up and the place I want to raise my future family. We have put about $80,000 or more into this project, so I am going to be heartbroken if our appraisal doesn't equal the amount of money we put into it.

So… if the appraisal comes back today in the amount that we need with no “subject to” repairs or conditions, I will be a happy camper.

On to the more gooderer stuff!  I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a long time - this is the first weekend since the beginning of November that we a) haven’t had guests b) have no plans and/or c) Jay hasn’t had to work. We are making a trip to the grocery store tonight and after we get home, our cars are not moving until Monday. I might make it to the gym sometime this weekend, but we’ll see. The Atkins diet is crazy hard, but I’ve had amazing results already. I lost 4 pounds the first week! I know that a few pounds might be water weight. However, I’ve been tracking my exercise and food using LoseIt, and according to that app, I should have lost at least 2 or 3 pounds last week. My clothes feel looser (hurray for less sausage legs) and even though it hasn’t been easy, the quick results have been worth it! I’m hoping that I can stick with the induction phase for at least a month. I do have some challenges coming up – wine and chocolates for the Women’s Club event next Wednesday,  a birthday shindig for a friend next Saturday, more festivities the following weekend. There are plenty of things to get me off track. My plan is that if I’m going to cheat in any way that I have to make up the difference at the gym. I’m going to try hard not to cheat and to stick to a single drink at each event – or have no more than two rum & diet cokes. Or club soda and vodka. Which is disgusting and makes me not want to drink anyway.

So that’s what is up in my world this week. What's up with you?

25 Things - The 2013 Edition

I kicked off 2013 in the best way possible... with some of my favorite people at a low key pajamas-required New Years Eve celebration. Meat pie, oysters, cheese in multiple forms, margaritas, champagne cocktails and more deliciousness were consumed. New Year's Day was spent recovering with a Walking Dead marathon.

I started back to the gym (again) last week, which was admittedly poor timing. I'm not going to beat myself up over it and this time I've set what I think are very reasonable goals. Sure I'd like to weigh what I did when Jay and I started dating, but the fact is that I wasn't all that healthy back then. Although I was working out like a maniac, I had some pretty unhealthy eating and drinking habits. My new goal is to lose about 13% of my body weight and to work out at least three times a week. My previous goal had been to lose almost 20% of my body weight, which I think was probably a recipe for failure. When I get down to my goal weight, I can decide if I want to lose those last ten pounds.

I'm looking forward to these 25 things in 2013 (not resolutions - and also not in order):

1. Be more positive
2. Lose ~13% of body weight (or eat healthier and exercise at least 3x a week)
3. Start a few plants from seed for the garden
4. Come up with a new budget and stick to it
5. Get rid of the red couch and chair that I freaking HATE
6. Purchase new furniture and decorate downstairs
7. Put together a time capsule for our house
8. Blog at least twice a week
9. Get organized - important documents, books, seasonal items, etc.
10. Be in good enough shape to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (aka Mount Doom) in New Zealand
11. Raise a small flock of chickens for meat (at least six)
12. Sell some eggs, otherwise we'll be overrun when the new chickens start laying
13. Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, even though I'm scared of being eaten by a shark
14. Snuggle a koala
15. Install the heat pump downstairs
16. Make room in the budget for a cleaning service
17. Get the crawl space insulated
18. Have photos done and send Christmas cards out this year 
19. Fence in yard
20. Hatch out some silkie and black/red star mixes 
21. Say no and not feel guilty afterwards
22. Have an awesome time at the Mardi Gras Ball
23. Can tomatoes from our garden
24. Print "before" collages to frame and hang in the house
25. Use at least one week of our time share

We'll have to see how active Mount Doom is for #10. Apparently it has erupted quite recently!

That's all for now... I suppose that I should start working on my next blog post and plan my next gym visit! 

Getting back on the fitness wagon

I work out!

I began thinking last week that I wasn’t exactly sure why I fell off the wagon to begin with. Ironically, I fell off the wagon the week before I started my new job. I got two hours of my life back with my new commute, yet somehow I couldn’t find the time to exercise.

I could blame it on having all of that free time and working on the house more… I could say that my exercise buddy was out of commission with a knee injury, so I couldn’t go… I could come up with any number of reasons that culminated in me not making the effort.

The real problem?

I did not make exercise my priority.

It was as simple as that!

I’m gradually easing myself back into a fitness regimen because an injury would really set me back. I got on the scale last Thursday and it read about what I thought it would. I’ve gained 8 pounds in the past 5 months of not going to the gym. You know what? It’s not such a big deal. I can gain that by taking in an extra 200 calories a day, or by not working out. That’s about one Blue Moon (which unfortunately, I LOVE to drink). Sure, it sucks that I lost my initial momentum, but in time I will lose what I gained. It could be worse – I’m still 2 pounds less than I was when I started getting serious about my fitness last November.

Slow and steady wins the race. I went to pilates last Tuesday, then got up early and did 25 minutes on the elliptical last Thursday. Friday evening I certainly consumed too many calories in the form of fried foods and adult beverages, but I did have a late night swim, plus the walk to the swimming places and back to my vehicle. So I walked for about 1.5 miles in addition to probably half an hour or so of doggie paddling and a few ungraceful dives. I think that counts as three days of working out.

I went to pilates last night, then got up early this morning and did another 25 minutes on the elliptical before work. I may get to the gym on Thursday, but we’ll see. Friday morning I’m planning to get up early again and do the elliptical before work.

My goal is to make it to the gym or be active three times a week, preferably for 45 minutes to an hour each time. Hopefully I will go more, but if I don’t, I’m not going to beat myself up over it. At least three times a week, the gym is my priority. Ideally, I will go early on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a few pilates or other classes once my fitness level starts to improve. I used to get my heart rate up in the 160 to 170 range, and now I can’t push myself much past 140-145.

I know how out of shape I am and I don’t want to push myself too hard right now and get discouraged, hence why I am only doing 25 minutes on the elliptical. I can push myself in a few weeks, but not now.

My main goal this go-around is to make physical activity a habit and to keep up with it. I want to be healthy, but I don’t want to become so focused on the weight loss aspect that I lose sight of the ultimate goal – being healthy. I’d like to get my BMI to within the normal range, and that is my main goal. If I lose more, that would be great.

I’m not going to obsess over the scale. The next time I’m planning to weigh myself will be September 23^rd. Hopefully by then, there will be a downward trend. I said before that I wasn't going to go crazy over tracking my food and exercise, but I changed my mind. I had a lot of success last time using Lose It, so I think it will be a helpful tool to keep me on track. It's also nice to have a good idea of how many calories are in whatever I'm about to shove down my gullet. Some foods can be deceivingly filled with sugar or fat. I'll be getting an iPhone soon as well (so happy about that, my BlackBerry is literally taped together and no one makes apps for it anymore), so it will be nice to have the Lose It application on my phone.

That's it for now. I'm hoping to get some photos posted of our work in the kitchen this weekend!

Oblong eggs, rowdy roos and getting fit

I’m sure that this one wasn’t much fun to lay!

In other news, I found a new home for Dresden. Last week, I contacted the people at Cedar Run Cattle to place an order for the meat for our party in October. On a whim, I asked if they knew anyone in the area who might be interested in a rooster. Their response:  “We will be happy to take your rooster, we have done this for others who could not keep a rooster & wanted a good home.”

Woohoo! So that problem was solved. It’s a win-win and I'm so happy that I asked them. I’m buying meat from a local farmer who raises happy and healthy animals without antibiotics and steroids, and Dresden gets a happy home full of new hens to chase. 

It was all just going entirely too well. When I got home from work yesterday, I quickly changed into my workout clothes for my Pilates date with HotFrugal Angela at the Y. I ran out to the coop to check for eggs (where I found the behemoth egg that begins this post). I’d just gathered all of the eggs when Dresden ran up to me. His head was COVERED in blood. Great. After some panicked moments, I hunted down Mouse, whose head was also covered in blood. Well, at least I figured out that they were fighting with each other instead of being attacked by another animal.

When I got back from the gym, I got a better look at both of them. Their wounds looked to be just from their combs and wattles… apparently those bleed a lot, so the blood made things look worse than they really were. But seriously, what are the people at Cedar Run going to think when I bring them a bloody rooster? One of my girlfriends already joked about me running a cockfighting ring in Hobbs. :-P 

So now I’m likely going to have to give Dresden yet another bath before we take him to his new home. I’m hoping that some peroxide will work for getting the blood out (I poured tonic water over their heads last night, but it just got them wet and pissed them off). It wouldn’t be so bad except that he’s white and has those furry feathers, so it looks really gross.

My next planned post will be about meeting our dinner (tomorrow night when we drop off Dresden). We’re ordering beef, pork and chicken from Cedar Run, and I get to meet some of their animals tomorrow. I don’t want to feel as disconnected from my food… meat doesn’t come from the grocery store, it comes from real animals. If I’m going to be eating them, I should at least have the courage to meet my dinner and say, “Yup, you’re cute, but you’re also delicious.” I want to see that they’re being treated humanely and not living in cramped quarters. I want them to have access to plenty of fresh air and pasture with room to run. When I talked to the owner, they said that they’re thinking of adding some ducks to the mix. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they do! I’ve wanted to find a good source of fresh duck for about a year now.

I'm also hoping to blog more about getting back into an exercise routine. I slacked off after I started the new job, but I'm getting back to it. Although getting through Pilates yesterday was brutal, I felt great afterwards. I also felt great this morning. My plan is to get to the gym tomorrow morning before work. We'll see if I can drag my sorry ass out of bed at 6 a.m. I have no excuses now - somehow I managed to get to the gym 3-6 times a week when I worked in Baltimore. Now that I'm local, I get two hours of my day back. I can use the Y in Easton (in walking distance of the hospital) or I can use the Y in Denton. No more excuses not to be fit and healthy.

This time I'm going to get in shape without obsessing over the scale or tracking my exercise and calorie intake. The best shape I've been in over the past ten years was when Jay and I first started dating. I didn't even watch what I was eating all that much. I exercised nearly every day. Back then I was running, but I don't know if I really want to get back into it. I found that I was more likely to hurt myself, plus I don't have the great trails like I had when I lived in Piney Orchard. For the first year that Jay and I were dating, both of us lived in the city and we walked everywhere. I figure that I'll walk a few times a week at work, take some classes at the gym and use the elliptical machines. I am also not going to weigh myself more than once a month (if at all). The scale is going to fluctuate every day, sometimes by multiple pounds up or down. Getting on the scale makes me crazy and discouraged. I'm not going to do it.

That's it for now. Hopefully when I get home, the blood will have mysteriously vanished and I'll have a coop full of normal sized eggs.