Action Packed Weekend - Part 1

The weekend before (Sat 7/18 & Sun 7/19), my husband had another activity planned, so it was me and the kids since Thursday evening.  We got through Friday pretty easily - I took off from work and spent the day in DC with my daughter and a friend.  My son and her kids were finishing their last day of camp so we spent time exploring parts of DC that I have never visited.  (Will come back to our DC day in a later post).

On Sat, my baby girl (she may be 6, but she is still my baby) had gymnastics practice for three hours.  I decided to take my son (he is 9) to go rock climbing.

(sidebar: I haven't been rocking in 10-13 years since my husband and I were relatively newly married. I wasn't belaying him properly and he didn't let me know he was tired and was coming down and he just let go. Since I didn't want to drop him, I caught the ropes as best I could and ended up with major rope burn and blisters in both palms. I will never belay my husband again (and really he wouldn't trust me to do it properly either), so I've avoided the rock climbing center.)

Honestly, I was pretty scared to do this and my son needed some encouragement too when we got started.  I had to remind myself that I needed to show my son (and myself) that I could be a little brave and conquer my fears.  So up and down the wall we went.  It was quite a workout!  We both made it to the top of the shorter walls and then maybe half way up the top of the tall walls.

I was super proud of my son for his willingness to climb and then asking to do a week of summer camp there!

Here is picture proof that I was on the wall at some point.

Here is my son (in the blue shirt) - we both got to this same rock (actually he climbed first and I had to push myself to make sure I at least got to that same spot - whew!)

P,S. I did workout today (still on my Combat/Pump hybrid) and my son ran on the treadmill near me to train for his upcoming kids triathlon!

Pressing on

I completed Week 2 Day 3 yesterday (Thursday) late afternoon. Morning workouts are better as it's harder to get motivated to get down there and workout as the day slips away!

I am thankful that I was jet lagged for most of the week so I could wake up between 4-6 am feel and feel ready to go. Unfortunately, I think that is wearing off and I struggled to wake at 6am this morning.

Yesterday was Pump Challenge and Hard Core Abs. I've done Pump Challenge over 10 times now at least and just realized I've been facing my palms the wrong way for my chest presses :(. Maybe now I'll get more results :). I start out on 5lbs each side and then after the second exercise I went to 7.5lbs each side for the back and arms. I also raised to 5lbs each for the shoulder segment. My underarm area still hurts on the right side when I try to raise it too high, but I just keep pushing through. I should be able to start at 7.5lbs each side next time too for the squats! Excited to see progress in my capabilities!

As for the hard core abs - this is the first time I've done this dvd. What I haven't enjoyed as much about this set versus t25 is the amount of switching in coaches. Shaun t is the constant in t-25 and I love that. I'm constantly trying to figure out the new coach accent with pump. Anyway, abs started out doable but my back was getting sore - maybe from the extra weight on the deadlifts and rows earlier - so I concentrated on trying to not hurt it. It was a bit scary to hear / feel a pop in my back each time I did a crunch / leg extension so I was pretty careful and leery about the workout. Some of the push ups got harder too so definitely need to up my game and stick to this. Extra pain points from my fall where I bruised the back of the forearms so it was hard to lay on that to hold a move and then my bad ankle was not wanting to support my weight to do the side lift.

No pain, no gain - I just wish the gain would be more proportionate to the pain 😁.

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Forgot

I totally forgot to post yesterday! We had to take the kids out for swim lessons and it was pouring out so was just dashing about in the rain.

I didn't get my workout in until late in the afternoon, but I did get my combat 30 complete. My six year old did it with me for about the first seven minutes. I gave her some tips before we started so it wasn't awful, but her arms and legs were all over the place 😆.

I was really tired though especially my arms so throwing those punches were not easy!

On another note, I twisted my right ankle yet again after falling right inside the swim school doors because it was so wet. I twisted it earlier in Barcelona as well. May have to just wear the ankle support for a bit until I can get more stable!


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Wannabe

I tell my husband frequently that I want to be a runner. I watch all these people run by and I want to run. Why? Because all these running b***** are so skinny - surely if I run I too would be skinny?!?!? He reminds me that I'm not built for running. That I'm short and my bad ankles and flat feet would not do well. I already go to bed and wake up every morning with pain in my feet and ankles so I'm sure he is right (I just hate to admit that).

We walked so much in Europe (17k-25k steps daily) that my knee started to hurt on a hike we did so I'm sure knee issues would be next if I took up running.

I just wannabe skinny, but I love food too much, but running is probably not my get fit quick shortcut. There are no shortcuts for me so just need to continue plugging away.

Time to meal plan my 21 day fix soon I guess and see how that goes? :)

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Week 2 Day 1

Pump and Burn- my first time doing this video. Started a bit strange feeling with the live format, but it got a lot better. I did 5lbs each side all on all exercises since it was my first time through.

I have a love hate relationship with bottom halves. I hate them because they hurt! I love bottom halves because they must be working if they hurt so much?!?

I think next time on the chest track I have to debate if I go 2.5 on each side or if I try the 5 again. I need to add 2.5 each side to the third track (maybe arms/back?) and give that a shot.

On a side note- I skipped week 1 day 7 rest or flow since I just had a long rest from vacation.


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Productive Morning

First of all... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOMMA!!!  (I thought she was turning a certain age because I calculated her age from mine thinking I was 36.  My husband corrected me that I am 37 - doh... I guess forgetfulness is surely a sign of aging lol.)  My mom is an amazing woman, she came to a new country 30 years ago not really speaking the language, not liking to drive and she had to pretty much bring us up by herself while my dad worked in our home country.  Through all of this, she has remained the kindest and sweetest woman who would do anything for me, my brother, my dad, her family, and my kids.  

We went out to a local tapas place for dinner last night (coincidentally called Barcelona) as I was craving some red wine sangria.  While the food and drink was good, it's not quite like being in Spain.  That and I think having the kids there who didn't like the food (sauces) as much was rather difficult.  We tell our kids they can't live on mac and cheese forever and constantly work on expanding their palate.  They did try everything we asked them to even if it wasn't to their liking.  I do have hope though as my oldest didn't like any fish or non cheese sauce at all and suddenly started gobbling down salmon and pesto pasta.  I did follow this up with some tasty gelato that was around the corner because we enjoyed those on the many hot days/nights of trekking across Europe.  

I digress... either the sangria or just still trying to adjust to the time zone difference made me very sleepy.  Pretty sure I was fully out by 9:30pm.   This led to waking up at 4:30am.  My norm would be to read in bed and then fall back asleep.  This is not really a good idea as I hit another sleep cycle and wake up even groggier when it was time to wake up (alarms were set for 5:45, 6:15, and 6:30 as my son had to be ready for camp by 7am).  

This morning I got my butt out of bed and went in my disaster of an office and cleaned my desk a bit.  It felt really good!  I also got my to-do list written down and then went and got in my workout.  

Day 6 of the combat / pump hybrid = Pump Challenge.  I increased my weights from 2.5lbs to 5lbs each side for the final arm / shoulder workout.  I can see and feel my arms still shaking while blending my shakeology so I think it was a good challenge to my muscle.  

1 child off to camp and now time to get my 'work' day started although I may need to squeeze in a quick rest later to function.  

America's Birthday

Has it really been a month since my last post?  Shows how life just moves on by quickly.  My husband and I went to Europe for a nice break while my in-laws watched our kids.  We missed our connection in Frankfurt yesterday so we had to travel home on the 4th.  When we planned our trip, I did not want to be traveling on the 4th as I figured there were greater risks or more security measures to go around - the best laid plans and all that right?  We didn't even have to remove our shoes so I'm not sure how security was intensified, but we had an uneventful (thank God!) second leg home.  

Happy to be home in time to celebrate America's birthday and enjoy fireworks with the family.  Some photos from the fireworks display :)

Loved the purple hues of this one!

Back to reality and working out tomorrow!

Day 3 ✔️

Finished Day 3 Total Body Circuit. Barley. Really mixed feelings today...
- Proud that I finished even though I had a headache every time I jumped to landed. - Disappointed I let myself slip so far back that I'm struggling again.

Why did I start again? It was the realization that I've gained back 8 of the pounds I've lost. I haven't weighed myself since the day before my birthday. I don't think it was nearly as bad - was just the bloating from pms that added to the size of my belly that made me sad.

(I don't know what Pms is called after a hysterectomy though ... I still have my ovaries and hormones so I still get the bloat and major mood swings but no pain and issues.)

Anyway, I should go and weigh and take my body measurements again so I can see the results after I finish my program.

Eating and drinking better - haven't had a soda since Monday night.


Me post work out. It was tough today and I worked up a good sweat.








My workout buddy. He wasn't that impressed apparently. 😖













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Day 2

Day 2 is finally in the books after starting at night rather than in the morning like I had planned. Lessons learned:
* Need to just get my workouts in before I start my work day.
* Plan my meals again- didn't over eat today but don't have the energy now like I did yesterday when I spaced out my meals and snacks better.

Speed 1.0 while not crazy hard like when I started originally, seemed longer than 25 minutes today - think it was because of the lower energy!!

Ah well. I feel so much better mentally now that I can check that item off my to do list. :)


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Workout started

No more excuses 😅 - I'm 37, the oldest kid is now 9 and I'm nearly 5 months post surgery.

T25 Day 1 Alpha Cardio - check. Not quite starting over at -0 but definitely harder than when I stopped working out consistently. The first 10 mins went by pretty fast - the last 15 seemed longer than before 😝. Every time I wanted to quit I looked to the right where our old TV was and see my reflection and how much I hated my weight currently and it pushed me to continue.

At least it's over for today and my knees survived! Next is to eat well today....

What is your health and fitness goal for today? Whatever it is - do it early and plan ahead! I need to go plan those meals and snacks before I get starving and devour everything in sight and make this all for naught!


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After the Fall

Owie. I fell down our steps earlier this evening and my body is now hurting even more. I got cocky thinking I could walk and bend and scoop up stuff to take down at the same time and next thing I knew, I was sliding down the stairs. Taking an inventory of aches, I jarred my teeth, hurt my wrist, back, and butt. My biggest area of pain though is on my forearm where I must've hit the stairs the hardest. :'(


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Oh what a beautiful morning!

Woke up early this morning and instead of being lazy in bed and reading facebook posts like I have been of late, I got my workout gear on and hit our home gym.

My workout buddy this morning:



I decided to try out Combat Power Kata45 to get my day going. Great workout but about 35 minutes in, my scar line started to hurt a bit - not sure if it was the constant punching motion pulling on the area or just getting too sweaty.

Btw if you were concerned and about to call animal control on me, don't worry my little buddy wasn't working that hard :).



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On with the journey

I'm taking little steps to get back on track. Got on the treadmill on Tuesday and it felt good even if it was just a brisk walk. I'm suffering from a cough that just hasn't gone away and it leaves me gasping for breath quite a bit so not pushing too hard at the moment.

Working on turning over some new leaves lately in productivity and organizing! Using a time logging app to see how I'm really spending my days and it is pretty helpful in helping me stay on track.

I'm fighting the pack rat in me and purging! Currently, I'm tossing all of the makeup I've had laying around that I don't use. Who knows what icky germs are on them anyway at this point (although some are so old I would think the germs have died)!


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Ahhhhh

Quick back and forth to the grocery store in hopes of a quick fix for my toffee craving (no luck) and dinner out tonight. Those are my only adventures outdoor so far. Towards the end of dinner, my arms were hurting pretty badly though. The meds had worn off about 20 mins before the check came and I could just feel weird cramp/tendon spasm/some crazy pain going off behind my arm. Now not sure if I'm having an allergic reaction or what, but I was itchy and scratched without really thinking and now one arm around my stitches has a bump on it about the size of a golf ball. Put some anti itch cream on, took Motrin, Allegra, and currently icing. Hope something/everything works. I have a follow up tmr with one of the surgeons. Whew.

On to productivity - so much more productive when I'm not staring at facebook all day. Almost finished with a dress for k that I'm testing for a pattern designer, and also started converting my stamp set unmounting exercise.

So this is what they used to look when I was doing binder sheets. I'm now going all DVD Stamp case. I'm hoping by the time I'm finished I'll free up more room in my craft room!





My old blog has the details here: http://stampingandscrappingwithamy.blogspot.com/2008/07/unmounting-instructions.html?m=1

This is what they look like now! The one on top is the one I converted. The one on the bottom is how now clear mount sets come in the packaging from SU.






Took me forever to set up the initial template in Photoshop Elements. Each future one will take some time to set up still, but will go faster hopefully as I make more. I've got three more tonight that I've already finished the case insert and printed. Will cut and convert tomorrow!

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Monday already?

One child is off to school and the other one will head out the door shortly. My husband is out at meetings too. I thought I would be feeling guilty for laying around today, but the pain was kinda bad last night before I feel asleep and also bad this morning. I've decided to be good today about taking my prescription every six hours and taking ibuprofen every six hours as well (alternating with three hours in between). I like to tell Siri to set me a timer for three hours and hearing her amusing responses. One of my issues and I'm not sure if it is medicine related (certainly food smell related) is the feeling of nausea every now and then. Ugh! It certainly isn't morning sickness - ha ha!

So, last night I had a chat with my 8 year old. He can be the sweetest boy, by when he gets upset his anger is so intense and it makes him so upset. I've had to remind him that he was upset over having to play the lego movie on Xbox one with his little sister because she wanted to play and needed his help. He wasn't very kind to her about having to help and finally we had to just send him upstairs. After he came down he and I had a little chat. First, I didn't yell (yea!) because I think he got a little of his anger from seeing when I get angry so I've been trying to be a better role model. Second, we talked through how here he was getting upset over being asked to play Xbox games with his little sister who adores and looks up to him. I told him he could have a sister who sucks and destroys his legos instead of plays them with him and he could have no Xbox like many people in the world. I even took down memory lane to when their Kids Quest was collecting change to have enough to send lights to children in Africa so these kids could have light to study after they finished their farm chores. I wanted him to be a happy child who appreciates what he has and is grateful instead of focusing on what he doesn't have. So you may be wondering why the long post today? Well last night on FB and also this morning on FB, I read two posts about the same thing. A Blessings Jar! Where you jot down the good memories, miracles, blessings, answered prayers, etc. from the year and then read through them together at the end of the year.

Here are some screenshots from my Pinterest search for blessings jar. Will make ours and post the picture later! I hope this helps all of us cultivate more feelings of gratitude.






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Update

I'm thankful for good friends / neighbors that have dropped off care packages. I'm snacking on my friend Alice's yummy banana bread while perusing a magazine from Amber.

I'm super thankful for my parents who take the kids to their activities, keep me fed, and takes care of me and the kids.

Of course I'm beyond thankful for my husband. We just celebrated our 14 year wedding anniversary on the 27th and then off I went to surgery on the 29th. He waited in the hospital for hours on end with me as they had asked me to go in 2 hours earlier and then delayed me past even my original start time before proceeding. Then I think it took a little longer and he didn't get the updates on when I was moved to recovery. He has been a trooper to sleep on the sofa with me every night and help me all around.

I had a second procedure done (not implants and no don't ask) in addition to the hysterectomy so the recovery has been painful there too. At least they seem to alternate in pain. Maybe my body is sending repair cells in an alternating pattern to each area :-).

I have a few boxes of alcohol wipes / adhesive removers that I keep buying as I keep losing them to clean the gunk from my craft scissors. Miraculously I now have found all three different type boxes and they have been useful in cleaning up all the tape residue. (They are also all together so they now in my craft room so hopefully I won't lose them again.)

As for my to-do list, I walked around more, showered, cleaned my craft room and office for five mins each, printed my pattern, and have started cutting the pieces out. I will probably be able to finish the pattern assembly tonight. Going out is not happening today and I don't think I'll get to any card making.

My stacks of pattern pieces. Won't be able to share photos yet as these are for a test of a yet to be released pattern. I'll post updates on my craft blog when it happens :).


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Today

Today's ambitious to-do list (don't judge, I get tired quickly and spend most of my time sitting / passed out on the sofa):

* Walk around more
* Shower
* Print / Cut a dress pattern
* Spend 5 mins cleaning up my craft room
* Work on a card design
* Potentially leave the house (but it seems really cold out today)

Will update later on what actually was accomplished. :)


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Resolutions

New Years resolutions - I guess I should make some. For 2015, my goals are:

1) Be happier - laugh / smile more; stress / yell less.
2) Develop deeper relationships - I miss real friends and chatting on the phone or in person versus reading status updates.
3) Lose 20 pounds - this might be hard. I should be able to drop the first 10 relatively ok. The next 10 might be tough.
4) Craft more. Once a week seems like it won't happen, once a month seems too little. Hope I'll find something in between. It would be nice to send out birthday cards.
5) Get better organized and clean up after myself better. Learn to leave less trail of destruction. This really means focusing and finishing what I start more.
6) Cultivate deeper sense of gratitude. Be thankful for more and complain less.
7) Do less, sign up to do less for others and more for self/family.
8) Develop better sense of time management. I always think I have more time to finish something than I actually do. Then I end up stressed, grumpy, in a rush and #1 and #5 go down the drain.

There are lots I'm sure, but will start here for now.



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New show addiction!

I haven't really sat down and watch tv in a really long time. I like The Blacklist recently and will occasionally sit down and watch shark tank with my husband.

I've recently discovered Marvel's Agents of Shields on Netflix and have been addicted! I've watched all of Season 1 and then realized Season 2 wasn't on there.

I found some of Season 2 on demand but it started on the 6th episode. Had to purchase the first five episodes on Amazon Prime to get my fix. Now I'm in business on demand! Sadly, I'm about to run out of episodes and then what will I watch? :-/


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