Self Challenge

I've been invited to a promotion party with a theme "Captain Caveman".   We are all supposed to come in Caveman costumes. I have two weeks to do the best I can with my diet and exercise so, here I go.

Starting again- taking up my personal challenges

Well.. here it is Monday again and time to start the ritual first day.

I'm participating in a challenge regarding inches lost, but not sure how long that challenge is going to last.  However sometime today I will need to do my measurements and get them to the "keeper of the measurements".

I have to use a communal laundry room in the basement.  No biggie, except for some reason my key won't open the door this morning.  I'm pretty sure I have the right key, but.. it just won't tumble.  I'm going to need to borrow my neighbor's key in a bit.  I think I may end up having to get new keys made. At any rate, it's sort of annoying to have so much laundry to do today and no way in (at the moment) to the machines.

I'm also working on getting my 90 days of iron supplements in.  I have been anemic for a while and the doc wants me to take supplements for 90 days and test again.  If the test is still low, then he will explore other reasons why I might be anemic.

Well, I guess that is all for this morning.

Birthday Central

September is a busy month for birthdays at our house and within the larger family frame.  Paul's mom's birthday is this month, and my dad's was the 13th. Kimberly, my middle daughter celebrated her 14th birthday on the 15th, Kendra my oldest daughter turned 17 today.  My niece, Tina was 27 on the 11th.

The picture is of Kendra and Kim, during the summer at WaterWorld in Phoenix Arizona.

Kimberly came into this world at 4:30 AM on September 15, 1993.  She weighed 9 lbs and was 22 inches long.  She is now 5ft 6 inches and shows no signs of being done growing vertical yet. :)  She is a beautiful girl, both in body and soul.  I see the potential that lies deep within her still.  And I am enjoying watching her become.

Kendra came into this world at 1:28 AM on September 20, 1988.  She weighed 9 lbs and was 21 inches long.  She is now 5 ft 4 inches and it looks like this may be the final height for her.  I can't believe that my oldest baby is just one year from being a "legal" adult.  She is everything I would hope that she'd grow up to be.  Smart, Independent, trustworthy, loving, and most definitely NOT afraid to stand up for herself. I have great faith that she will achieve her goals.

 

just plain tired

There just aren't enough moods to choose from in this set up.   I am about to die I am so tired.  Once the kids are out the door this morning I am going back to bed.  I spent yesterday getting my kitchen organized again.  Chopped up my veggies and I am good to go to grab and eat healthy foods for a while.

My sleep patterns have become so messed up.  I stay up each night until almost 1 or 2 am and then I have to get up by 6 to get the kids going each morning. Saturday and Sunday mornings without an alarm are starting to look very good.

Army Standards

I've been doing some research this morning.  I would like to be able to achieve Army standards for physical preparedness and weight.  I've been looking up the numbers so that I can begin setting goals.  You know, check where I fall now on the "scale" and make plans on how to improve those scores.

According to the Army for my heigh (5'2") my "ideal" weight is 115.5 lbs. 

The P.T. Standards for females between the ages of 42-56 is as follows:

2 mile  run

100%-17:24 /  90%  18:54 / 80%    20:30 /  70%    22:06         

  Sit Ups (to be done in 2 minutes) 100%   72 / 90%     62  /80%     52 / 70%      42     

   Push ups (to be done in 2 minutes) 100%   37 / 90%   31 / 80%   25 / 70%    18

  I need to double check on the time allotment for the sit ups and push ups, but I think two minutes was the standard.  So I think I have my work cut out for me.

Friday's Dining In

Friday night our Brigade put on a Spouse's Dining In.  This event was to award honorary spurs to the spouses that survived the spouses "spur" ride in August.  The Calvary has a longstanding tradition of having the soldiers earn their spurs.  This can be accomplished one of two ways.  1. is to earn them through battle. 2. is to earn them through a "spur" ride, in which their nettle, strength, and intelligence are tested.

Often an abreviated Spur ride is created to allow the spouses an opportunity to learn some of the more intricate parts of their soldiers military service.  I myself have earned my own Air Assault Badge by going through a Spouse's course. :)  I did not get to participate in this spur ride since I was on vacation.  But I did go to the celebration of the event.

Friday evening we all dressed up, high heels, long dresses, etc.  Everyone looked so lovely.  We gathered for the cocktail hour and then proceeded to the formal portion of the evening.  We toasted the United States, the President and the First Lady, We toasted our soldiers, We toasted the spouses who have experienced our worst fears.

Then we gave out awards.  Dinner followed.  After this, we created the "grog".  The grog is a concoction of innumerable spirits all mixed together and used as punishment throughout the night whenever someone forgot their manners, etc.  Needless to say, there were a lot of drunk spouses by the end of the night. 

We did skits, and finally. . we danced.  Although this was an all spouse group, we danced and enjoyed the evening.  The comraderie created amongst all us women (and a few men) was awesome.  It is a reminder that we are not in this alone.  We merely need to look to the left or the right and there we can find strength.

the 7

Well, I've been seeing this list of questions showing up in everyone's journals, so I thought I'd play too.  Hope no one minds.

7 things I would like to do before I die:

1. Meet my weight goal

2. Take an Alaskan Cruise

3. Finish a wedding quilt for each of my kids BEFORE their weddings

4. See all three kids graduate from college

5. travel leisurely through the British Isles

6. Become truly fluent in one other language

7. Own my own home- for good this time.

7 things I can do:

1. shop and order food in german and french, cuss in spanish

2. break the ice in less than 3 minutes with new people.

3. believe that my kids are the best things since sliced bread

4. walk two miles in 30 minutes

5. bake and/or cook a new recipe and have everyone rave.

6. finish lap size quilts in a reasonable time

7. read and interpret most medical jargon.

7 things I can't do:

1. start a sentence and finish it in the same language! (other than english)

2. ignore someone who is suffering

3. accept anything below a B on a report card (mine or someone else's)

4. keep my house clean on a day to day basis.

5. say NO when asked to help out

6. refuse the opportunity to address a crowd

7. ever live in Phoenix full time again.

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1. dark hair

2. witty conversation

3. intelligence

4. education

5. physique

6. a wry sense of humor

7. full lips

7 things I say most often

1. "if you leave my house realizing that 'life isn't fair', then I've done my job" (said to the kids when they wail "That's not fair!")

2. I don't think so.

3. as if

4. clean your rooms

5. Did you brush your teeth?

6. The fact of the matter is...

7. I love you

7 celebrity crushes ( and this is all about the "hubba hubba" factor!)

1. Keanu Reeves

2. Sean Connery

3. Josh Hartnett

4. Harrison Ford

5. Cary Grant

6. Brad Paisley

7. Orlando Bloom

 

 

 

So far, so good

Today I'm including pictures of me (this was taken in Feb, 2005 at Madame Toussards Wax Museum in London).  Also a pic of my husband, Paul.  His was taken just before he deployed in March.

I am feeling on top of the world today.  I have stuck to my exercise plan for this week.  I've walked 2 miles every day since Tuesday.  My eating plan is slowly coming "on line".  I do great during the day when the kids are gone, but by dinner time I find myself going the "easy" route and getting fast food.  So next week I'm going to focus more on home meals.

Next week (monday) I'm going to begin my Slim in Six program.  This comes from beachbody.com and is a six week program of progressively longer and harder workouts.  I've started the program before and had some really good results with it before I plummetted.  I'll be taking "before" pictures on Monday so I can see the visual difference after 6 weeks.  I'll try to post them here to help me stay on track. 

I'm also using a combination of WW points and the pocket diet. You can find out more about the pocket diet at www.pocketdiet.com .  This diet uses pita pockets to assist with portion control.  Since our commissary actually carries pita pockets that are perfect for this diet, I decided to try it.  There are a ton of good recipes out on the internet.  You just have to be careful about calorie counts.  Although, it's easy enough to make adjustments with the ingredients.

 

Back in the saddle

I think I'm back on track!  Weighed in yesterday at 216.3 and got all my measurements.  Tried to stay on track with my eating, may have been a bit off, but I did get in two miles of walking.  We are back on our way.

I am using a topical OTC cream to help burn fat.  I'll keep you all informed on how that goes.  You put it on a small area where you want to release fat from your fat cells and then you exercise 30 minutes later to burn the released fat before it can redeposit somewhere else.

Diet plan is low calorie with special emphasis on high fiber, low fat.  I"m trying to remember to take my iron pills daily for the next 90 days so that I can be tested again for anemia. Guess that's all to report for now.

Once more .... from the top

Affirmation for this week of RELEASE - "I no longer carry the past around me like a cloak. Instead, I cast it off via internal cleansing and outward action so I can move boldly into new adventures."

 

The little ones are still sleeping. Everyone went back to school this week.  My oldest daughter has been home for the last couple of days due to a fierce UTI.  We were back in the ER last night since she's not had any relief with the original antibiotic.  They changed the meds and have asked us to return to the clinic on Tuesday. (holiday weekend).

It's time to get serious on this weight issue.  I have 7 months til Paul gets back from Afghanistan. Even at a modest rate, I figure I can be at least 28-35 lbs lighter by his arrival at the end of March.

According to my astrology, this is a good time to begin new projects.  I want to take advantage of that positive energy and start moving forward again.

On that note, I weighed in this morning at 216.9.