I conquered ‘The Beast’!

November 18, 2007 by Leave a Comment


The other day I was telling you about my ‘Little San Fransisco’ neighborhood that I live in and how I was going to ‘Conquer the Beast’ – the big hill up the street from me. Well, I did it! I conquered The Beast! It was hard, and I had to stop once in the middle to catch my breath and make sure my legs hadn’t fallen off, but, I made it!

This was last Wednesday, and I haven’t been back out since – so I’ve done a horrible job with my LiTaWaMo. I have done wonderful, in that I keep getting ‘back on that horse’!

We’ve had a lot of chaos in our lives lately, though. My middle son just got sick with asthmatic bronchitis and missed a whole week of school. My daughter just celebrated her eleventh birthday and had some activities at school, and my parents are coming into town in a couple of days.

So I’m still plugging along, but, I’m not getting out there every day. The cool thing, was that my husband had just bought some new batteries for my camera – so I took some wonderful pictures of the fall colors around here on my walk. I don’t think I’ll take my camera every time, as it was kind of obnoxious carrying it. And I wound up taking about one hundred pictures that day. If I kept that up, I’d have way too many pictures to deal with!

I really want to get out there and walk tomorrow and Tuesday, so that when my mom is here she and I can walk – she loves taking walks and it is so beautiful out here, that it will be nice to be able to to do that with her. And I figure taking walks the next two days will loosen me up a bit for it.

Filed Under: exercise

LiTaWaMo setback

November 8, 2007 by 1 Comment


Well, I had another bad migraine yesterday, so my walk didn’t get taken. And I didn’t have any extra walks from prior days to bank on this time!

So I’ll just have to take two walks today. I might walk the dog first, because, I have to be gentle with him and not take him too far or on too steep of hills, because, he is handicapped. We have had three different diagnoses from three different docs – hip dysplasia, spinal deformity, leg deformity. The last vet (curse him!) went so far as to call my sweet Puppy ‘lame’. Lame? Way to break a mother’s heart, dude! And shoot! This dog could outrun that doc any day! Just not for long distances. He is good at short spurts, you know?

So I’ll take him on his semi-easy walk, and then I think I’ll attempt ‘the hill’. Does that sound ominous? Haha! I call my neighborhood “Little San Francisco” and the hill that is on my street is …WOW! It’s a monster!

I’ll see if I can take a camera with me and snap a picture of it for you!

So I’m getting back on the horse! I also didn’t blog on LisaMarieMary.com for NaBloPoMo yesterday, and I’m really bummed about that. But I’m just going to get back on that horse, too!

A fresh new day – a fresh new perspective!

Filed Under: exercise, LiTaWaMo, Physical

LiTaWaMo – Kickoff time!

November 1, 2007 by 2 Comments

Ok, folks – it’s time to get serious. Or, at least, a little bit serious. As I’m doing NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) over on LisaMarieMary.com, I thought I would borrow from that and do a ‘walking one’ for myself! I started out with ‘National’, but, soon realized I’d need to change it to ‘Lisa’s’ ….as, it’s just me. And the only thing ‘National’ about me is the spread of my….

Yeah, well, you get the point. I’m going to make every effort possible to walk every single day this month. Even if it is just a little, short walk (because I’m busy, tired, sick…) I would like to walk every day.

And should I succeed (I will succeed, I will succeed) – by the end of the month, I should have a nice habit established, as it only takes twenty-one times of doing something to make it a habit. Sounds like a plan, eh? Yep, I thought so, too.

And, I’ll get back on track with my Healthy Habits while I’m at it, too. I’m gonna need a couple of days to get going on that list, though.

And we’re pretty low on water bottles right now – eeks! I’m gonna have to make sure the old man gets us some more this weekend, as there is no way I am drinking this tap water out here. Yuck! When we lived in Texas, and we ran out of water bottles before grocery day, I could put tap water in the bottles, refrigerate them, and when they were nice and cold, they were totally drink-able. This water out here is seriously yuck-o, though! So that’s kind of a bummer, because, I feel trapped, or stuck to …well, you know – dependent, on those damn bottles. And that just sucks.

That’s okay, though – it’ll work out. And today – I actually took TWO walks! (No, I won’t cheat and count that for two days!)Tongue Out 11 My silly Puppy decided to poop in a neighbor’s yard, and as he never used to do that – I didn’t have a bag with me! So I took Puppy home, and went back to retrieve his fecal matter. Ewww! For five whole years, Puppy spoiled me by only pooping at home! And now, the last two walks, he has pooped out and about! Gah! It’s back to carrying bags for me, just like I did when he was a puppy and I didn’t know of his ‘only poop at home’ rule – the one that is no more…. Sad

Wow – I ended the last two paragraphs on a sour note. That last one – literally and figuratively! I’ll have to remedy that. Here’s some happiness and sunshine:

Thirty days of walking is going to be so good for me! I’m going to feel so good and it’s going to become a habit! I’ll be able to keep up better with the kids and zip my pants up easier. Life will be absolutely, terrifically perfect.

Was that better?Winking 2

Filed Under: exercise, Healthy Habits, LiTaWaMo, Physical

Lunch with Sammie is a good workout

October 7, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Yes, it’s true – going to lunch with my sweet daughter is a good workout. I no longer have access to a car in the daytime, so I ask my sweet friend, Belinda, to take me up to the school at Sammie’s lunchtime. And then I walk home. I don’t want Belinda to have to wait on me or sit through that raucous lunch with us. And I don’t want to ask her to come back in thirty minutes. And I desperately need to get my butt moving, anyway. So I walk home.

It is only a mile. But a long and hard mile it can be, that’s for sure. Well, this last time wasn’t so bad. I took another route, on which I think the incline was easier – we live at the top of a hill. And also – the last time I took that walk – the temperatures were in the 100’s!! So it definitely helped for it not to be so swelteringly hot. But I still definitely got a good workout from it. And it was a nice, peaceful time to just mentally relax.

So I’m definitely going to have to continue doing that. Sammie gets to see me at school, I get to be a little more involved at school, and I get a workout out of it! You see, because, ever since I started my home based business, I just don’t get as much time at school. So it’s a win-win-win!

Filed Under: exercise, Parenting

I’ve finally started walking again.

September 9, 2007 by Leave a Comment

And I have really been enjoying myself. The other day, I went walking when the college classes were switching, and I just happened to walk over by the college. And it was so neat to feel the ‘vibes’ of a college environment again. So that was pretty cool.

And one of the things that I’ve been doing while I’m walking is scoping out all the neighbor’s mail boxes. No, not to steal their mail! Don’t be silly! I’m shopping. Yes – shopping, checking out all the different kinds of mailboxes available right now. Our ‘mailbox’, and I use that term very loosely, is in such a pitiful state that it is not even funny! I’m so serious. For starters, it has a deceased man’s name on the side of it. Ok, then. And what’s really odd, is that we sometimes still get mail for him! He went to Heaven in the year 2000!! Alrighty, then!

He and his wife had this house built in the early 60’s, and I’m quite positive that the mailbox we are using is the original one! I’ve been meaning to take a picture of it to blog, and now that I’m telling you all about it, I definitely have to!

I will, but, getting back to walking – it is so cool, because, I never have to spend another cent at a health club again! Really! See, our little neighborhood has been lovingly nicknamed, by yours truly, ‘Little San Francisco’. And that it is.

There are hills this way, and there are hills that way. There are steep hills, and hills you don’t even realize you’re actually on until you become completely out of breath, and your calves want to reach up and choke you!

The multitude of variables I can apply to my workouts, just by taking a different route, are innumerable.

In fact, during one of my recent walks, I was thinking about how much weight I could have already lost, having been here since July of 2006, had I been a little more disciplined about getting my butt out there!

Filed Under: exercise, Home

List complete and Google Pedometer

August 7, 2007 by 2 Comments

Boy, oh boy, do I ever deserve this, yet again:

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Yesterday the kids and I walked to McDonald’s to eat lunch and then we went to the yogurt place for dessert. That sure doesn’t make it sound like I completed my Healthy Habits list, now, does it? Hahaha! And I actually didn’t complete the list, but, I had such a workout, that I am giving it to myself honorarily again!

I am so sore today! I heard on the radio that the heat index was 110 degrees! And that time of day, the hottest, is when I chose to take my kids on a 2+ mile walk! I never said I was the prettiest crayon in the box! And we do live on a hill, so coming home almost killed me. I wound up with a migraine, and went to bed at 6pm. But you know what – I had a workout – and that rocks! I’m so excited about that.

I found out how far we went on this great new Google tool my friend, Amy, just told me about recently. It is so awesome – it’s the Google pedometer and you can measure the distance of where you walked/ran. And it’s better than going back and tracking in the car, because you can track where you walked that you wouldn’t be able to in the car. For instance, the kids and I cut through the college parking lot and field at one point, and I was able to tell the Google pedometer that and get a measurement of our distance covered. Totally cool.

Filed Under: exercise, Healthy Habits

Get-Moving clothes

July 18, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I had originally titled this, ‘The clothing dilemma of a fat chick’ – but, decided that was too negative. I am at an odd place with my weight issue, one of absolute honesty and bluntness. I have been there for a while now, and I am finding it quite interesting. It is basically like this – you know how when you’re fat, you like a shirt that is a lot bigger than you, around and long, so that you can ‘hide’ underneath it. Well, recently, in my newfound bluntness, I am not caring if my shirt actually fits, you know, like it should. See – this is a twisted web we weave. Normally, I ‘hide’ under my clothes because I’m not willing to ‘say’ to you, “I’m fat.” Funny thing, you knew I was fat. But in my not ‘saying’ it to you, I was hidden and safe. It’s just about getting honest with myself, really, like being able to ‘say’ to you (in clothing or in words), “Hey, I’m fat.” So that is why the original title came to mind, but, I am now swinging to the other end of the pendulum, as we all so often do when we are growing and changing. And I am wanting to be careful to be honest, but, not to be negative. So, anyway, that’s that and that’s why the title changed. Funny, this explanation will probably wind up being longer than the original topic I wanted to talk about!

So, anyway, on to that original topic, shall we? The dilemma we face as larger people is that we want lots of clothes to cover us up. Hide all of our insecurities and make us feel safe from the world outside. I don’t, however, often feel motivated to ‘get moving’ in such clothing. Jeans, for instance, although they nicely ‘hold me together’ – they also ‘hold me together‘, thereby prohibiting a lot of free-flowing movement.

I have bought myself several tank tops this summer and I’ve had some athletic shorts. And I’ve tried to make a habit of wearing them. And the really cool thing is, I don’t feel too awful in them. Let me tell you what I do feel, though. I do feel LIKE MOVING! And moving is a VERY GOOD THING! Even if I don’t actually ‘exercise’ on the day I’m wearing them, I dance around and stretch all throughout the day, because, it just feels so good to be wearing these clothes! I will take the stairs more – sometimes go up and down them twice just for the heck of it! I do have two staircases at my house, so there is lots of opportunity for that!

I actually wore jeans today, but, I’ve been meaning to post about this for a couple of days now. And I’m excited all over again about the ‘freedom of movement’ and ‘freedom from fear’ that I’ve found in wearing tank tops and shorts so I think I will definitely have to wear them tomorrow. I know, to some people, this might not sound like a very big deal. And then I know there are some people reading this and nodding with total understanding!

Filed Under: exercise, honesty, weight loss