Friday, January 25, 2013

Running Again. Again.

Guess what? I took a running break. A long one. After gaining a lot of weight back that I lost last year, and bathing suit weather annoyingly hovering behind me, I decided I need to start running again.



A couple weekends ago, we had some nice weather so I went running with my mom and sister. We ran for about 20 minutes, and it was super hard! Last night I decided to hit the treadmill after realizing exactly how many pounds I've actually put back on.



In September 2011, I hit my pre-baby weight goal. I stayed pretty committed to exercising and eating somewhat healthy throughout 2012, except for the end. Walked right off the plank. Jumped into the ocean of fast food and sitting on the couch. And promptly sank to the bottom. Mostly because of a fat ass. So now, I have a new goal weight and a new motivation to get back on the healthy ship.



So, back to the gym again I went tonight. It felt like starting over and it kinda bums me out. I'm sad to think about the long journey it took to get myself healthy last year and how quickly I let it go. I'm mad at myself for doing it. I never thought I would be a "yo-yo dieter", but here I am. After I beat myself up for awhile, I quit the boo-whoo'in and got motivated. Like me and Cory like to say, "Nothing worthwhile comes easy". So I'm ready to work hard again.



Here's how my numbers added up: 25 mins, 2 miles. Yahoo!
Hello Old Friends.....

Summer, I miss you.

It's been typical Washington winter weather around here lately...freezing, rainy, freezing rain, cloudy...did I mention FREAKING FREEZING?! I'm not the type of person who likes winter. At all. I am always cold, even in the summer so I dread the cold, damp weather. I love my mini heater. I love my sweatshirts and sweatpants. I love my big wool socks. And I'm talking about in the middle of July. No joke. But the number one thing I hate about the winter...the kids get cabin fever. Especially Parker.




I think when Parker was 4 months old he first caught cabin fever. He's still suffering- 5 years later. I wish someone would invent a cure.



The kids are staying up late at night because I know they just aren't getting enough good ole fashioned playin' outside. It's been in the 20's, and mama just ain't going outside when it's that cold.



We've played at McDonalds. We've played every board game known to man. We've played the Kinect. We've played several hours of "Taylor Swift Salon". (I'll have to show you that one another time..it's the best Salon in the nation!) We've watched movies, gone to the library, set up a basketball hoop inside, and even hit up Grammie's for her hot tub. Yelp, these last couple of days, we've kinda run out of things to do. But wait, we forgot- Bowling! Yes, it was super fun and the kids liked it a lot. Parker won this time. I think we found our new hang out!
Parker picking up the spare!
Parker thought he needed to walk Callie up to the line on her every turn. Then, he had to put his arm around her until her ball very sloooowly made it to the pins.




OH, and we went out for ice cream. Yes, ice cream in the middle of winter. I didn't get any in case you didn't guess. Too cold.
It's hard to get Callie to take a serious picture!

Monday, January 21, 2013

2013: My Goals!

January is almost over, but like last year, I like to share my yearly goals to help keep me motivated. I think having written goals is really important. It makes it more real I guess.
FINANCIAL GOALS:


-PAY OFF MY CAR. They always drive better when they are paid off, huh? ;)

-START 529'S FOR KIDS. Shoulda started this long ago, but better sooner than later.

-GET MORE SERIOUS ABOUT USING THE ENVELOPE SYSTEM. It's no secret I love Dave Ramsey, but I'm a slacker when it comes to using cash. I will get better at this!

-PAY FOR CORY'S COLLEGE WITH NO LOANS. I hope Sallie Mae drops dead. That's all I have to say about that.




FITNESS/HEALTH GOALS:


-GET BACK INTO RUNNING 3X PER WEEK. I've taken more than a few months off from running. I've gained weight. I don't like this at all.

- GO KAYAKING ONCE THIS SUMMER. This goal is carried over from the last 2 years...no bueno. It will be done this year!

- MAKE IT INTO MY "HEALTHY WEIGHT" RANGE FOR MY HEIGHT...146-148. Got close last year, but taking time off from exercising at the end of the year did not help.

- GET NEW RUNNING SHOES.

-EAT MEAT 3X PER WEEK ONLY. I've been doing a lot of research on health and nutrition after watching the movie, "Get Vegucated". I'm trying to make more vegan choices in my daily diet. So far, I'm doing fairly good.

-DRINK AT LEAST 1 GLASS OF WATER A DAY. This might sound easy, but I'm a Cherry Coke addict. I drink a lot of pop, iced tea, and coffee. Not very healthy.

-WALK THE DOGS ONCE A WEEK. Walking the dogs tends to fall on Cory's shoulders. He is going to be super busy with school, work, baseball, the kids, and moving into a new house. This is something small I can do to help him out. It'll be good for me too!

-FINISH A 5K. I feel like I haven't been in the running mode for so long, I'm starting over! I'm not going to try and have any PR's this year, but finishing a race would be more realistic.



PERSONAL GOALS:


-READ 3 BOOKS THIS YEAR AND COMPLETE BOOK REVIEWS ON MY BLOG.

- BLOG TWICE A WEEK.

- COMPLETE 1 ITEM FROM MY BUCKET LIST.

- BUY LESS "STUFF". Getting ready to pack up and move has made me realize how much excess we have. I hate it! I'm going to try and make an effort to try to think about "want vs. need" when buying something.

- ONLY WORK ON 1 HOUSE PROJECT AT A TIME. I tend to want to work on 86 things at once. It makes it kinda hard on Cory to complete anything because I have him spinning in circles. I'm going to try and finish things before starting something new.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Comeback Post

We have a lot to catch up on, my old friends! Okay, well it was my 30th bday recently, so maybe I'm your old friend now. Anyways, last time we talked was in the beginning of October? Oh my. Well let's chat. Parker turned 5. By his request, we had a bowling party. It was a good time! And a bonus- Someone else got to do the cooking and the cleaning up? Yes, let's to it again!! He got his big yellow boat he had been saving up for, so he was happy.
Halloween was fun times. We hit the pumpkin patch and decorated the house and told spoooooky stories. The kids got to pick our their own costumes this year. Parker wanted to be a race car driver and Callie picked a butterfly. I was a girl from the 50's and Cory was a Greaser. We did lots of trick or treating and it was great!
Thanksgiving was nice and quiet. We had a big dinner with just our little family. Watched a lot of football. Then, Black Friday shopping with my mom of course! The Christmas season was fantastic! We did all our usual Christmas traditions..making cookies, looking at Christmas lights, writing wish lists, and we even went ice skating and enjoyed the Nutcracker ballet this year. We enjoyed Christmas Eve with Cory's family and had Christmas dinner with my fam. The kids got lots of fun gifts and I must say, so did I! Cory got me an amazing camera that I like to call my "fancy camera". I'm still learning how to use it.
New Years was quiet. Cory had New Year's Eve off, while I had to work so he and the kids played our fun "pop the balloon" game like last year....every hour they got to pop a balloon that had a fun activity in it. Of course we threw in a couple of chores just so we could point and laugh at them. We lit off some kid-friendly "fireworks" like poppers and sparklers.
Cory enrolled in college! He is working towards an AA right now and eventually will get his BA in computer science. What a smarty pants. This is something he's been wanting to do for a long time and finally we had the time and money to make it happen. Well, I don't know about the time part, but I guess you find time for something if it's important enough, right? Mostly, he wants Parker and Callie to see how important college is and he wants to set an example for them. Figuring out what you want to be when you grow up doesn't always happen at 18, but once it does, it's important to go after what you want.
My birthday was fun! My laptop broke awhile back, so it's been hard for me to keep up my blog, download pics, surf pintrest..ya know, the important things in life...So, Cory suprised me with a new computer! Awwww, it was so thoughtful and shocking, he made me cry that booger. My friends and family spent lots of time with me and gave me some awesome gifts...I'm so lucky to have these people in my life!
Oh, did I mention in the midst of all this we are selling our house? Yup, we found our dream house so on the market we go. So please send us happy vibes that we will have a quick sale. Callie starts a new ballet class in a couple weeks and Parker starts basketball again. Also, we have decided to home school Parker and Callie in preschool so that's been an adventure too. Whew, this year is starting off crazy busy!