A Year in the Life

I don't make resolutions.  I used to, but wisely I quit.  I figured when I kept breaking them after a few weeks or months that something had to change, and it had to start with my thoughts and actions.  Here are a few of my failed resolutions: Don't failures look so much prettier when they look like that?  Still, they are places where I fell short, and that is where the most learning takes place.  What I really learned is that I needed to be a person of action instead of talk.  Talk is cheap.  It's easy to say I'm going to do something, but the follow-through is another issue.  I can say I'll love my fam, but unless I actually do it the words are meaningless.  I figured what was the use in making resolutions if it was all talk and no action.  I had to make lifestyle changes.  Instead of just wanting to read my bible, workout & lose weight, I made changes to make sure I did.  I started by putting things on my ca...

dance /dans/ verb 1 . move rhythmically to music, typically following a set sequence of steps. "their cheeks were pressed together as they danced" synonyms: sway ,  trip ,  twirl ,  whirl ,  pirouette ,  gyrate ;  More 2 . (of a person) move in a quick and lively way. "Sheila danced in gaily" synonyms: caper ,  cavort ,  frisk ,  frolic ,  skip ,  prance ,  gambol ,  jig ;  More noun 1 . a series of movements that match the speed and rhythm of a piece of music. I grew up dancing.  There is something about telling a story through movement and music that is cathartic and beautiful.  The story is told from the dancer's finger tips to the end of their toes.  Dancing requires core strength, bursts of power and balance.  Like all g...

I'm hard on my stuff.  I don't mean to be, but I am.  I guess I fall into the work hard/play hard category.  (or at least that's what I'm telling myself.)  It's something I didn't mean to pass onto the chicks, but I did.  Ugh, can we have anything around here that's not chipped or broken?  Feel free to giggle at the pic on the left, because it's pretty funny when you see it for the first time. Speaking of chipped or broken stuff...I have a love/hate relationship with my fitbit.  It's great because I roughly know how many steps I take a day & the amount of calories I burn.  I'm super competitive and it allows me to compete against others while making me get off my booty to do it.  At my age I need all the exercise I can get.  The muscles are not holding their tone as long as they used to, and they have to be worked pretty hard.  My first fitbit I had wouldn't keep a charge after a few months so the company sent me a replaceme...

All I have ever wanted for my children is for them to be kind and generous to someone in need without wanting anything in return.  I'm willing to bet if I polled 100 people, at least 99 of you want the same for your children as well.  It's something we all want, but how many times do we not see little ways we can help others.  There is no act of service that is small because it may be big for someone else.  As parents, grandparents, and mentors we have to lead by example. What I've learned is children are not innately kind and generous.  Ever had a two year old tell you "mine!" or not willing to share toys?  Ask me how many times I broke up my kiddos arguing over who would share what toy & who hit whom.  Ever tried to ask a child/teenager to help do anything that they didn't really want to do?  (cut the grass, unload the dishwasher, fold clothes, pick up toys...does anyone out there feel me?)  Like I said, children are not innately ki...

Y'all know I love Zumba & Pilates.  I've recently added muscle works & barre classes into the rotation.  I needed to do something to change up my routine & confuse my muscles.  I hate working out with weights by myself, so the muscle works classes are great because misery loves company.  (even though I think my instructors are part Terminator...)   Barre is a class I love to hate.  It is so stinking hard.  My muscles burn & shake all over the place.  It's not pretty. I have had a personal goal for myself for the last few months.  I wanted to be able to do "boy" triceps push ups.  For you to understand this goal I need to back up & explain some things about me.  I have strong legs.  My mom used to tell me I had thighs Bo Jackson would be proud of.  :/  That is just what every teenage girl wants to hear.  They are tree trunks though.  My father-in-law told me that my booty looks like JL...

Let me start by saying that I am a rule follower, at least most of the time.  But there are days I just forget.  I forget that: I'm not infallible; I'm not indestructible & I'm not in my 20's anymore. You might remember that a few years ago I popped my right calf muscle open.  I'm not going to lie, it hurt, badly.  A few years earlier I popped my left calf.  Well at least I ended up being even.  When I was 20 I tore my meniscus. It was a beautiful April day and waaay to pretty to be going to class.  Especially when I had a better offer.  I heard the lake calling my name.  So there are my big injuries in reverse order.  Fast forward to last week... ...I'm working out.  I love to workout, I feel so good when I'm done.  (and it allows me to eat without guilt.)  The ole' knee has been hurting for the last 8 months.  When I went to the doctor in August, he said I had bursitis.  An old person ailment. Insert...

2 Hopsons vote today. Thanks Mrs. Cindy! I had a great experience with Hoppy today.  Considering that I haven't seen him in two days it was nice to spend 30 quality minutes with my very busy oldest child.  You know, as a mom, I love precious moments I have with any of my children.  It seems so many of those moments center around being in the car.  That's ok because I'll take the good ones any way I can get them!  I usually have the best conversations in the car anyway because they can't get away from me.  :)  Signing his name to the line Turning 18 is a pretty big deal.  It's that age that is such a real step towards adulthood:  a young man has to register with selective services; they are, in the eyes of the law adults; and they can register to vote.  Hop took care of everything by himself.  I tried to be minimally involved, because at some point he will not have ...

Henry & some of his friends Every Saturday there are many 5Ks/ fun runs all over the country, and thousands of people who run in them.  Elizabeth, Henry & I participated in one today.  It was a lot of fun.  We saw tons of friends and had a great time supporting our city. But...you knew there was a but coming...I really don't like to run.  As a matter of fact, I can't stand it.  I've tried to like it; I really have. But in reality, I just don't.  I don't get that runner's high.  I just really hate life when I'm running.  Now, if you want me to do Zumba for several hours, or go on an elliptical rider, or walk a really long way with my friend Ashley, OK, I'd be happy to.  My endorphins get kicked in & I could go, and have gone for hours.  :)  In my world, running bad, everything else good.  If you see me running, for almost any reason, please, for the love of all that's good, call the police. ...

This is what my KT tape should look like. You've seen all the different Olympic athletes with that funky tape on their backs, hamstrings, feet, shoulders, and anywhere else they may need it. Well, you know who is wearing the ole' KT tape?  That would be me.  Can I tell you how cool I look.  OK, not really, but I feel like I look like an Olympian, maybe...in my own mind.  I have to say though, it's hard to put KT tape on your own calf, especially when your leg is supposed to be in the stretched position while you put it on, and said calf hurts while you are trying to apply it.  Yesterday I put it on myself and I didn't do too well. It came off in the middle of me exercising.  Trying to get little people to help you doesn't really go well either.  Trying to tell them where to place the tape and how to stretch didn't go very smoothly this morning, but as of 4:30 it is still on.  :)  Yea! Well, it has felt great to get back to exercisi...

Let me start off my saying that is there is some random way I can hurt myself, I'm pretty sure I'll do it.  I'm such a dork.  I mean, I know, from my children, that I'm a goober, so that's not earth shattering news, but now I have the boot to prove it.  In March I had hoped that my hurting knees from snow skiing would be the worst thing to happen to me this year.  That is a no go. So, it's 8 am.  We're at the pool because Elizabeth & Henry have swim practice & I'm going to do Zumba, because it rocks.  I completely forgot that Zumba didn't start until 10:30 today.  Bleh, oh well, I guess I'm coming back to workout at 10:30.  I drive the peeps home, run by the bank, and then get back in time for the class to start.  I LOVE IT.  I love my instructor.  She is a great teacher.  The choreography of her routines make sense; they aren't too hard, but you can make them harder if you want to.  We've done the w...

...or 20 minutes under my electric blanket on high.  I am sore.  Not just a little bit sore, my whole body hurts, and I feel every one of my 40 years.  Well, my fingers don't hurt, so I guess it can't be considered my whole body.  I decided to really push myself with the cardio today because I'm not going to be able to workout tomorrow.  :(  I figured if I doubled up today it would make up a little bit for not being able to exercise tomorrow, and maybe I wouldn't feel as guilty.  Since I may not be able to move, the guilt will have to take a back seat. I am living out the words 'stove-up'.  For those of you too young or not from the south, it means that whenever I stand after I've been sitting or laying down for any period of time, I hurt until all my muscles have loosened.  It hurts to just change sitting positions right now.  3 hours of Zumba will do that, especially if you have a bum knee.  As you ...

I am a hot sweaty mess.  Welcome to summer in the south!  It's the humidity that gets me.  It doesn't have to be that hot, say 85 degrees, but you add in 80% to 90% humidity & it suddenly feels like 95 outside.  Yuck.  We had a swim meet tonight & I was in the full force sun for the entire meet.  Some clouds or a little breeze would have been nice, or maybe a tent, or since we were the visiting team, getting to spend part of the meet in the chairs that had shade...but it was all a no go.  Oh well. You know those women who don't sweat?  Yeah, well I'm not one of them.  It pours from me until I look like I've been dumped in a pool or just stepped out of the shower.  My head even sweats.  I know it's an attractive thought.  Today I did Zumba, (it was great) and when I was done my hair was wet and my entire shirt was drenched.  None of the other women in the class even looked like they broke a sweat.  The...

It was raining this morning.  Since Henry swims with second team, I told him I would take him to practice at 9.  Little did I know that I would spend two hours on the phone with Geek Squad.  Henry was late to swim practice.  Actually, he missed practice altogether, but he needed to get into the pool and swim.  I told him to practice with the guppies, but they were doing conditioning out of the pool since the water was so cold.   What a great workout! It's a around 10:15 & we're getting ready to go home.  It's cold, it's raining & I still have a lot of my workout left to do for today.  :(  And laundry, and cleaning, and everyone is always hungry after swim practice, and I don't want them junk, so yes I'll be glad to be your sweaty, smelly, short order cook.  Laura, another swim mom, comes out & tells my friend Ashley & me that we need to do Zumba with her.  She said it start...

So, the whole weight loss thing has been going pretty well.  I started my diet the day I started this blog...on the day of the big 4-0, so I'm almost 5 months in.  I don't weigh myself, I'm very number sensitive, so I'm going by how my clothes fit.  Pretty pleased so far.  I haven't made it to stick thin, I don't think I'll ever be that skinny, but I can dream.  I've done fad diets.  They work great as long as you stay on the diet, but as soon as you quit the diet, the weight usually comes back on.  So I've stopped doing the diet thing.  I'm doing the app thing.  It couldn't be easier. The app is called 'My Fitness Pal'.  I love it, it's my bestest friend.  I can plug in how much I work out & how much I eat & it figures out everything for me.  It should be called dieting for dummies.  Now it has also been helping that I'm burning as many calories I take in 6 days a week....

Christie & her daughter Jackie Well, Ashley and I logged a 10 mile walk today.  WooHoo!!!  We decided to not be wimps about it & we really pushed ourselves by taking the tougher route.  We tackled 5 big hills.  One of them was the massive one  in front of my house, and the others weren't quite as steep, but still nothing to sneeze at.  The wrestling team runs up my hill & just don't know how those boys do it.  It's hard enough just walking.  Oui! While we were walking, a friend called to see if Ashley wanted to go for a walk.  So we added a new element today, our friend Christie.  We dubbed her Speedy Gonzalez.  She's petite; has the prettiest skin; is built like a brick house & was walking at least three steps in front of us most of the walk.  (Ash, I think you're pretty too!  You don't look much older than Hannah.)  We picked Christie up about mile 4 1/2, and she forc...