Ripped in 30: Week 4

Day 22: Day 1 of Week 4 kicked my BUTT!!! Jillian is back FULL force with the plank position and working my arms. It SUCKS, trust me! And killing the things as well, but oh well. I made my way through the work… having to pause a few times and hit up the elliptical. Only a few more days to go and I will have made it through Ripped in 30!

Day 23: I seriously thought about NOT working out this morning because I was dreading it so much and then after I started, I seriously thought about just stopping halfway through and calling it quits and not even doing my elliptical. But I pushed through and then hit up the elliptical and felt a lot better about myself at the end. Although… I’m really starting to hate Jillian at this point, lol! Haha!

Day 24: Oops… I totally skipped working out today. Like ON PURPOSE skipped working out! I just couldn’t make myself do it. That… and I ate LIKE CRAP! Like pretzel bites and cheese at the movie theater for lunch, a cinnamon roll, and a handful of tootsie rolls, and some left over tuna helper. Not all that healthy, eh?! I admit, I was lazy today. I’ll use it as my ‘day off’ and get back into it tomorrow even though I don’t really want to.

Day 25: Cheated today and instead of doing Ripped in 30, I popped in Jillian’s Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism DVD instead and did that for 30 minutes. The DVD is actually a 40 minute workout, plus warm up and cool down, but I could only make it through five of the seven circuits before almost crashing and burning. The workout moves themselves were simple, but they kicked my butt and I was dripped in sweat by the end of the fifth circuit.

Day 26: Took another day off… oops again…

Day 27: Did Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism again and made it halfway through circuit six before giving up.

Day 28: Getting lazier and lazier… another day off…

Day 29: BFBM again and this time made it almost all the way through circuit seven, although I think I needed to pause the DVD a lot more than the last time I tried it. Got my sweat on. The best part about today was that this morning when I stepped on the scale… it read… 121.4 lbs! That is a 12.2 lb loss since I started my whole diet and working out almost two months ago. Fabulous! Didn’t think I would see that number at all given the last few days.

Day 30: I know it technically isn’t Day 30 yet, but I was technically done with my four weeks yesterday and so I’m not going to do a Day 30 for this review. You’ll get over it.

Overall Impression of Week 4: I don’t really have an overall impression of Week 4 since I only actually did it for two days. I have to say that it was probably the hardest of all of the weeks and my third favorite of the four weeks. I know that I could have made it through the week if I would have tried a little harder and had a bit more perseverance, but alas, I didn’t make it through and instead got a different DVD. At least I still worked a bit, right?!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

New Beginnings!

Another week, come and gone. Days are just flying by faster than I can blink. I get up in the morning, get ready for clinic (work), spend a few minutes cuddling with Ayden on the couch, drop him off at before school care, give hearing tests and fit hearing aids all day long, come home, have supper, work out, watch a little bit of TV with the family, then head to bed… all before doing it over again the next day. I’m starting to think that this whole career thing is a little more than it’s cracked up to be, ha! I love my me time a little too much to want to work ALL day long EVERY day of the week. Maybe I will luck out with a job like my previous supervisor who has every other Friday off… who knows?!?! It’s just that, although I know that I would NOT make a good stay at home mom FULL time, I feel like I only get to see Ayden a few measly hours each day and its not enough for me. And then I think… I want more kiddos and will just be starting my job when we can have more kids which means any future kiddos will be at daycare ALL day long EVERY day.

Ayden went to daycare, yes… but for the first year of his life, it was only three days a week. When we moved to Point, it was everyday, but it was not ALL day because our class schedules allowed for us to pick him up rather early in the afternoon and I felt like I got to spend a lot more time with him. Granted, given that we are not homeschooling, he has to go to school and that is from 9am-3:30pm so it is a good portion of the day. I don’t know where I am going with this, other than I just want the next three weeks to go fast so Ayden and I can enjoy our summer afternoons together going to the park, having picnics, going for walks and bike rides, and SWIMMING! And mostly I want some good warm weather too! Hehe!

But, as much as I dislike that clinic goes ALL day long, I am really enjoying what I am doing. I love helping people hear better and seeing how grateful they are for the simple fixes I am able to do. The days have been just flying by and my supervisor is just great! She is letting me be very independent as I’ve said before, but she is SO willing to put up with all of my questions and I love that. I am definitely feeling more confident than I was even two weeks ago and its great! I’ll get over the whole being gone all day long because I know in the future, it will be just that that provides for our family and being able to help provide for our family will make up for it at least a little bit. I haven’t been able to bring much to the table money wise for the last six years (except for thousands upon thousands of dollars in student loans) and being the main bread winner in the house once I graduate will feel kind of nice. At least I’ll keep my fingers crossed that a good paying job is in the cards for me because these student loans won’t pay themselves back. It’s just sad that my one class and clinic is costing me $2500 this summer! UGH!

Anyways, this post is about new beginnings… there are a few of them going on around here. The first one is that this past Tuesday went ventured to a deer farm just outside of town with Ayden’s cub scout pack and went in search of some baby deer to tag. We scoured an 18 acre penned in area of woods that apparently had 22 (or 24) does in (not that I saw even ONE) in search of any fawns that had been born. On our third and final pass one of the families came upon a little fawn (and let me tell you, these things are not easy to spot) and about 25 feet away the fawn’s twin brother was spotted.

This is the little girl that we found. The owner takes the girls out of the pen and then bottle feeds them. I’m not quite sure why he does that, but I’m sure he explained it and I wasn’t paying that much attention. I was just too focused on this cute little lady. She just laid there the whole time (probably scared out of her little mind with all of the people around her).Ayden laying next to the little lady. Too cute! All of the boys in his pack got to lay down next to the baby fawn.Here is the twin brother. He was a little more feisty and got away from us once, but we soon caught up to him and got him tagged. After we tagged him, we held him for a little bit and then let him go run off and find mommy again.Ayden and his cub scout pack and their leader (who by the way is totally AWESOME)! They are all holding fawns that are little bit older than the ones that we found in the woods.And of course, I had to get in there and hold one of those super little cuties. Ayden wasn’t as brave though.Another new beginning?! Jay’s NEW JOB! Yes, that’s right, my honey got a new job! How exciting! He wasn’t really unhappy at his current job. He likes what he’s doing, but the current company will not provide the opportunity for him to advance or make more money and at this point in time we NEED more income and the opportunity to advance. The new place is a bigger landscaping company that will pay more and will give that opportunity to move up and play a bigger role. He is excited, but was a little bummed to have to give the news to his current boss today. But he made it through, gave the news, and survived.

Ayden and I had fun chasing some baby ducks around today after school trying to catch one. I don’t think the mommy ducks liked us very much, but we didn’t even come close to catching one so I suppose that it doesn’t matter. We had to keep watch for the mommy geese that were near by because they are much more protective of their babies and they kept hissing at us when we would get too close and neither of us really wanted to be chased by a goose today. It was nice to get outside for a little while with my little boy. We took a nice long walk and he was telling me story after story… I just love times like that. We had about an hour and a half of just mommy and Ayden time and then after we got home, Jay took Ayden to the driving range and they hit some golf balls so he got some daddy and Ayden time in tonight as well. Even better!

The flowers in our yard are just starting to bloom so I’ve been busy with my camera lately trying to get some unique shots. Here are just a few…

This first one Ayden actually told me to take of him. I didn’t even ask for any pictures of him, hehe. Look how long that hair is getting! I think he definitely needs a little bit of a hair cut before our family pictures next weekend.We had some beautiful tulips pop up in our yard. I was so happy that they came up!And… some bleeding hearts! They are so pretty and these next few pictures turned out really well, at least I think so anyways.I think this one might be my favorite of the bunch though…The rest of our weekend holds soccer tomorrow, a relaxing Sunday, and golfing for Jay, Ayden, and Jay’s loverboy friend JT in the morning and then some afternoon racing… and hopefully some nice warm hot sunny weather!

Can’t wait!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Clinic, soccer, races, cub scouts and movies!!!

*I’ve been working on this post for almost a week so its about time I get this posted, eh?!

I started my summer clinical placement this past Monday. I am at a local Veterans Association and it is COMPLETELY a different atmosphere from my last placement. The supervisor is COMPLETELY different from my last one (although the basic stuff is always done pretty much the same) and so far I can say that I am really enjoying it. The first day I just pretty much sat back and observed how the supervisor did everything so I could get the hang of it and the second and third day I pretty much took over her schedule and she just supervises me (well she is my supervisor, haha). She is really great with answering my multitude of questions which is great, I love people like that because let me tell you, I usually have a ton of questions. It is just my nature. I have off today and tomorrow though because my supevisor had previously taken these days off. I suppose that it was a nice break in though, three days and then four days off. It looks like I might have at least every other Friday off as well.

I had my first day of NOT working out in I think it was like 18 days this past Tuesday. Oops! But it was for good reason. If I had wanted to work out on Tuesday, I would had to have gotten up at about 5:30am! That is just WAY too early for me right now. And I was gone from 7:30am until 9:30pm on Tuesday and that is just too late to work out if you ask me. I had a LONG day at clinic, but a good one, and then I rushed home to pick up my friend and her kids, my kiddo, and then we headed to our other friend's house for a girls/kids night. We were missing the fourth person of our bunch (insert sad face here), but we knew we HAD to get together. Reason being... Kristi is... MOVING AWAY! And not just down the road moving away, like 2+ hours moving away. Insert mega sad face here! We had a great few hours together catching up and having our girl talk like we always do and loving on Leah's twin baby girls, who by the way are just adorable, and getting SO big! Ah, I got my baby fix in!

The last two weekends have been super busy for us. Ayden has had soccer really early both Saturday mornings, like 8:30am. Bright and early, that’s for sure. Ayden loves soccer and I think it is a good sport for him to play.Oh no! Ayden let the ball get past him and into the goal! Good thing they were just practicing at this point! And that smile means he is having LOTS of fun!After soccer last week we had the Cub-A-Ree for Cub Scouts and Ayden to go play soccer with some Cub Scout friends, go on a nature hike, and learn about Wildlife Conservation. Here he is trying to get ‘home’ from third base!And it wouldn’t be a good kick without a little bit of Hoerth tongue action in there! It does take a lot of concentration to try and get a home run, everyone knows that!Here are some of the pretty tulips we have coming up at home that we planted this spring. They are super pretty and I think I might like them just as much as lilies… but definitely not more, hehe! I can’t wait for some of my lilies to bloom… we have like six different kinds now!Here are a few pictures from the races that we went to. We had lots of fun and will probably go again.And Cub Scouts graduation… lots of fun, despite the rain that came down pretty much ALL day!Okay, so I wanted to write a lot more about these fun activities, but I just can’t seem to sit down and finish this post the way that I know I should so I am just going to post it before it goes unfinished for another week and hope to get some sort of semblance of a normal post going in the next few days…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Ripped in 30: Week 3

Day 15: Week 3 Day 1 really brought it. I really liked a lot of these exercises better than week too because they weren’t so hard on my wrists like some of the other ones. With that being said, it still kicked my butt and I needed to pause the DVD about three times during the 20 minute workout… usually halfway through the cardio portion. I really wanted to skip the extra elliptical portion afterwards, but I pushed myself through it (having to stop just a few times as well, even with only having to do 15 minutes).

Day 16: I can’t say that today was any easier than yesterday, but I made myself do the whole workout, plus the elliptical. My ankles hurt a lot more today than any of my previous days of workout. Much of this routine has a lot of leg exercise and so I don’t know if it is just because my ankles are week or I am doing the exercises wrong. My legs hurt a little more today as well making it harder to move around. Thankfully it is the weekend. I think I’m most proud that I’ve worked out 16 days in a row now. That is totally awesome!

Day 17: Done. That’s all I can say.

Day 18: Again…done…

Day 19: Skipped today. If I wanted to get my work out in today, I would have had to gotten up at 5:30am and folks, that is a little too early for me. I was gone from the house by 7:20am and didn’t get home last night until almost 9:30pm (I was visiting with friends after clinic) and so after 18 straight days of working out… I finally skipped one and will just out it as my day off, although usually on my days off I still go on the elliptical. 

Day 20: I wanted to skip today, but of course I didn’t. I’m liking the results too much to start skipping days here and there, so I didn’t. Although I didn’t get up and do it in the morning either… rather, did it tonight after supper. I managed to make it through the whole workout without having to pause the workout though which I thought was a good accomplishment in and of itself.

Day 21: Finished up Week 3 today!

Overall Impression of Week 3: I liked the exercises from this week a lot more than Week 2. It seemed like Jillian didn’t work my arms as much (although I know that that isn’t true because I think my triceps hurt more at the end of each workout than before), but we didn’t have to be in the plank pose as much and I liked that because I HATE plank pose. This week was definitely hard, but I… cough… cough… actually enjoyed it. Ha! Bring it on Week 4!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{peace}

I feel lately that I haven’t just sat down and wrote about how I am feeling in life, rather just a few sentences about what it going on and then hitting ‘publish’. I love to write. I love to write not only about what is going on in my life, but how I am feeling about what is going on… and just about how I am feeling in general.

Getting everything done for school these past few weeks hasn’t been nearly as stressful as I had anticipated it would be, but it definitely was more time consuming than I would have liked. I really enjoy not having to worry about any finals to study for, any projects to complete, or anything school related in general. It just feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I haven’t even been done for that long, lol! I am looking forward to life where I come home at the end of the day and its just completely family time. I no longer have to tell Ayden that mommy needs to study or that mommy needs to finish some homework. That part definitely sucks, but he is definitely better at understanding it now that he is a little older and is in school himself.

I just feel very good about life in general right now, like a sort of peace and overall happiness about everything has settled over me. I LOVE this feeling and wish it would stick around forever. I realize that life has its ebbs and flows and it will not always be this great so for the time being I am going to revel in it. Ayden is growing and thriving and the light of my life and Jay and I are getting along great and everything just feels so peachy keen. Yes, I know, I’m being mushy gushy miss positivity pants here, but I can’t help it. I think of my life and I just smile. That’s not saying that I don’t have my bad moments… that Jay and I never get into spats (ie: just the other day when he got home from work we got into it about something stupid and I left to go take my last final with him being pissy at me, but we got over it) and its not to say that Ayden doesn’t misbehave because he does. But lately, life is just good, no great! And I am SO thankful for that! I am thankful for it EVERY day (even the not so great days)!

I’ve been working out (16 straight days now) and eating healthier and I am feeling a lot better about my body image, although it was never horrible to begin with. I feel like I’m at a plateau right now… stuck right around the 123lbs mark, which makes my loss about 10lbs since the beginning of April. I would like it to be a little more, but I know that I am gaining muscle and that weighs more than fat so that could be why I am not losing anymore (and the fact that I haven’t been as on with my healthy eating these past two weeks). I’m hoping to get ‘back on track’ with clinic starting on Monday. I know that I already said that, but with being gone from probably 7:30-5/5:30 each day, it will definitely cut out my snacking abilities. And the best part is that I’ve gotten Jay to start working out as well! I shouldn’t being saying this, but it is after all, my blog… he needs to lose the weight more than I do. He’s put on a good 50+ pounds since high school. Now okay, he definitely needed to add some poundage after high school. The guy practically starved himself for wrestling. Anyways, I’m not going to sit here and call my fiancé fat because he isn’t, but he’s well on his way there. Yes, I said it. If he continues down the path that he is on, intake more than output, he will end up that way. So, it’s a family lifestyle change (although my stick thin son could stand to gain a few more pounds on him, hehe). And what’s even better, in just the last week of working out, Jay has already dropped 7 lbs! GO him! He’s doing the P90X workout that a friend of his no longer was using and sent to him. It’s definitely a killer workout (I’ve watched a few of the DVDs and done a little bit of them myself) and there is NO way that I could do the entire hour. I will stick with my 20 minute Jillian workouts.

So, I already have the Ripped in 30 DVD and I am loving it. I think once I am done with this DVD, I am going to start the Banish Fat Boost Metabolism DVD and see how I like that. I’ve read really good reviews about it as well. I was a Target the other day, but didn’t think to look if they had it because that was where I had gotten my Ripped in 30 DVD (only to realize later that Walmart had it too, only for a lower price) and after Target I went to Walmart to get the DVD, only to realize they didn’t have it. Then I went to Best Buy which is right next door thinking that they almost HAD to have it, but once again, they DIDN’T! And there was no way I was going all the way back across town to Target to see if they had it, so I have to wait. This one is longer… about 40-50 minutes I think, but if I do this one, I think I am going to cut out the elliptical at the end. We’ll see though. Need to finish up my Ripped in 30 first! I’ve become a shoe whore. More of a heel whore actually. I now own (I think) three different pair of high heels and my super cute high heeled boots, and I want the pair below SO bad! Aren’t they adorbs?! I have to have them, and like NOW! Despite the fact that I have just about NO where to wear them too, hehe! We’ll see because I do happen to have $10 Kohls cash (but only because I had a 20% off and I had to use it- on the bright side though, I found coordinating shirts for both Jay and Ayden for our two family photo shoots coming up, yes I did say TWO. One is for just our family and one is at the end of June for Jay’s mom’s side of the family, and no we can’t just wear the same thing!) I’m thinking about going spray tanning tomorrow. It was going to be my ‘gift’ to myself once I finished Ripped in 30, along with a body wrap, but I recently got some coupons in the mail for half off a spray tan and I want to use it before it goes bad. I want to be tan for our family pictures, but I want to make sure the spray tan doesn’t turn me a weird color first. So I thought going tomorrow might be a good idea to give it a try, since it is only going to be like $10-15. I also decided that I think I am going to forgo the body wrap in favor of getting my hair highlighted. I’d love the body wrap (I think) since it says it will get rid of inches off my body, but at this point, I don’t think there is many inches left to get rid of (side note: the muffin top when I put on my jeans and button them is pretty much NONexsistent at this point!) and it wouldn’t be worth the extra cost because it is upwards of like $90 for it. I think I’ll put that money towards my hair instead because I haven’t gotten it cut or colored since the beginning of January (and actually that was just a cut, haven’t colored probably since last August). Both Jay and Ayden need haircuts before our pictures as well. We got a coupon in the mail for a free haircut for Ayden as well and I cut Jay’s hair so that is free. Actually, I could cut Ayden’s hair as well, but I don’t want it buzzed for our pictures like it was last year.

I took a wonderful nap today and I expect to get to sleep in tomorrow. I was up at 5:45am this morning… on a SATURDAY! That was nutso! But I wanted to get my workout in before we have to leave for soccer and Ayden’s game was at 8:30am. That meant, getting up… eating breakfast, working out for almost an hour (you know, with the time it takes to get the DVD set up, warm up and cool down, and with the extra few minutes it takes me because I take breaks) and then get ready for almost an hour before leaving. Yes, it takes me almost an hour to get ready… if I blow dry my hair and put make-up on and today I wanted to curl it with the flat iron, although I don’t know how much good that did because it was flat and straight as a board by the time we got home anyways.

After soccer, it was off to Ayden’s cub-a-ree event where I had to spend another two hours outside in the freezing cold and wind (which is why my hair didn’t stay curled). He got to play kickball with his buddies and we went on a nature hike and learned about wildlife conservation before getting home at just after 2pm where I proceeded to sit on the couch, read for a half hour and then take a nap. I was pooped! I thought Ayden would for sure clonk out with me because of all the fresh air he had, but he didn’t. He played good all afternoon.

He is sleeping in a tent we have set up in our basement tonight. Who does that sort of stuff, hehe?! Jay set it up because he wanted to see how big it was because they are going to use it when him and Ayden go to the cub scouts camp this summer and its too cold to set it up outside right now and what is better than getting to sleep in a tent inside?! Um… pretty much NOTHING! Hehe!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Action Shot(s)

It's Friday and my mood is already pretty good, but it just got about a million times better! Have you heard of Pioneer Woman?! If not, click here and check out her website/blog. She posts a TON of amazing recipes, AWESOME photography tutorials, GREAT homeschooling advice, and just lots of other amazing things! Anyways, every now and then she hosts these photography contests where people submit photos to her Flickr group, she selects the ones she likes best, and posts about ten or so for five or six days. Then, out of the ones that she posts, she picks the top five or so and then either everyone on her blog votes for the top one or she picks the top one. Each contest has a specific theme. This week's contest is 'Action Shots' and I submitted the following picture.I have previously submitted pictures for a few other contests, but didn't think I had even a one in a million chance of being picked... especially after all of the other great shots that I had seen submitted. I mean, hundreds of thousands of pictures are submitted for these contests and Pioneer Woman has to go through all of them and select the ones she likes best.

Her only rule is that you can only submit one picture a day. I had another picture that I was going to submit... this one......but I forgot to submit it the next day.

Anyways... GUESS WHAT?!?! The picture that I submitted... SHE PICKED IT as one of her favorites for Day 2. How totally awesome superly great is that?! Once again, after I had submitted it, I didn't think it would get selected at all just because I didn’t think it would be good enough and she has to look through so many pictures! To even be considered one of the top 50 or 60 that she liked is pretty cool. She picks a top ten or so and then out of those picks a winner for a super nice gift card. Now wouldn’t that be sweet… but I won’t keep my hopes up for anything.

I’m just super excited to be featured for this contest!

I’m done with classes for the next few weeks, yeah! I have four of my six grades already… three ‘A’s and one ‘A-‘ which isn’t too bad. I’m hoping for at least two more ‘A’s, but won’t be too upset if they are both ‘A-'s, just so long as they aren’t anything worse than that because I don’t think I deserve anything lower than that with the grades I have gotten in both classes so far this semester.

I start my clinical placement on Monday. I’m a little nervous, but yet excited at the same time because I’m ready to get it started (and to get it over with) because the sooner I can get it over with, the sooner I can get started with my SUMMER!

We have a full day tomorrow and it starts early… soccer in the morning and then a cub scouts event pretty much all day so I am going to check out early tonight, curl up in bed with my book and drift off to dream land before the alarm wakes me up again…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Ripped in 30: Week 2

Day 8: I ended up working out yesterday… I couldn’t not work out, it just felt wrong. So instead of doing Jillian’s work out, I just did a half hour on the elliptical machine. Oops, my bad, haha! Then this morning I ‘broke out’ Week 2 on the Ripped in 30 DVD and Jillian kicked my booty! I pretty much hated it. Maybe even more than the first day of the first week, but I made it through. But, I did have to stop a few times again and I had to use almost all of the modifications. It definitely was no joke, that’s for sure! And then to top it off I did 15 minutes on the elliptical again which was harder than I thought it would be. I’m not ready to see what Week 3 has in store for me!

Day 9: I slept in this morning, it’s a Saturday, what can you say! I did do the workout tonight. I’ve moved from doing my workouts upstairs to doing them in the basement. I like to do them in the morning; however, usually I end up starting my workout just as Ayden is getting up and he doesn’t enjoy watching me work out (and I don’t enjoy listening to his commentary). I got myself a padded workout mat because doing sit-ups on a cement floor (even if it has a thin layer of carpet) is NOT fun! I’m waiting for when my summer clinic placement starts because when I’m home more often, I noticed that I don’t have the will power than I do while I am gone not to eat as bad and I don’t want to lose the momentum that I have going! I was pretty sore this morning from yesterdays work out, but I sucked it up through day two of Week 2 and did 12 minutes on the elliptical. My elliptical has a ‘calories burned’ counter on it (whether or not is accurate for me, I couldn’t tell you), and when I first started going on it, I could ‘burn’ 50 calories in 15 minutes, once I can get that 50 calories down to 10 minutes (without passing out), I’m going to try and do 60 calories in 15 minutes. Today was pretty much just as hard as yesterday and I substituted two of the exercises for something from the first week because I just couldn’t do them. Oopies, but when I do the ones from the first week, I’m still feeling the burn so I suppose that is okay, haha!

Day 10: Only three more days of Week 2 left! Today kicked my butt… AGAIN, but I push myself through it whining the whole time. I mean, its only a 18 minute workout (with a few minutes of warm up and a few minutes of stretching at the end). I did 15 minutes on the elliptical as well and this time made it to 60 calories. Heck yeah! I’ve been eating like crap for the past few days though. Not a lot of snacks (just a few, hehe) and not stuffing myself full, but definitely slacked a little bit. It’s back to the hardcore calorie counting again tomorrow though. I was down to 122.6 lbs on Thursday or Friday morning and this morning I was at 124 lbs. I know weight fluctuates and maybe I’m retaining more water, but I liked seeing that 122.6 number because that meant only two more pounds until 120! Plus it was Mother’s Day today and doesn’t that sort of give me an ‘out’?!

Day 11: Pounded it out again this morning… and on the elliptical again. I am back on my ‘stricter’ diet this week. Going to keep better track of my calories and not check my weight until Friday or Saturday so I don’t become overly obsessed with what the scale says like I have been this past week. Two more days for Week 2, going to knock them out! I feel like I am getting more toned, although I don’t always like what I see in the mirror, it is getting better. I feel like my quads and arms are getting most workout and I am even beginning to see some definition in my arms (yeah!), and my stomach is in third place. I haven’t taken any measurements yet though, will save that until the last day. 

Day 12: I cheated and stepped on the scale this morning after I said that I wasn’t going to at all this week. I couldn’t help it and I regret doing it. The number was disappointing… 125.2. UGH! Seriously! I SO hope that it is because I am gaining muscle and not because I’m not working hard enough. I’m sad.

Day 13: Scale said 124.6 this morning… yes, I weighed myself again. I think I’m ‘conditioning’ to this level because despite the fact that I can still barely do ten push-ups at a time, I definitely didn’t feel like I burned as much today as I did last week when I started Week 2.

Day 14: Today is my break day and I’m honestly happy I don’t have to listen to Jillian today. I’m liking the workouts, but seven days a week is just too much for this woman, lol. Instead, like last week, I rocked out a half hour on the elliptical instead… 125 calories burned (according to my elliptical machine)!

Overall Impression of Week 2: This week was definitely harder than Week 1 and overall, there were two exercises that I substituted exercises from Week 1 for. One was a push-up one and one was an abs one. I have to say, even with the substitutions, I was feeling the burn so its not as if I wasn’t working my muscles out just as hard. I’m a little worried about Week 3 because of most of the reviews that I read about this product, they say that Week 3 is even harder than Week 4. Hmm… I guess we will have to see! I am still astounded that I’ve lasted this far! Go me!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

To my child…

(‘Stolen’ from someone on Facebook.)

Just for this morning, I am going to smile when I see your face, and laugh when I feel like crying.

Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say how perfect it is.

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play.

Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.

Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.

Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.

Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them.

Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald's and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.

Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you.

Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.

Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.

Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.

Just for this evening when I run my fingers through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.

I will think about the mothers and fathers who are searching for their missing children; the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms; and the mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly, and screaming inside that they can't handle it anymore.

And when I kiss you goodnight I will hold you a little tighter, and a little longer.

It is then, that I will thank God for you, and ask Him for nothing, except one more day…CIAO! LOVE ME!

Happy Mother’s Day

We have had some absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather for the last couple of days here in Central Wisconsin and I think/hope that summer is on the horizon (although, I won’t rule out at least one more freak snow this May because it HAS happened before… let’s not reminisce last year).

Today is Mother’s Day, but not only have I had a great Mother’s Day, I’ve had a great weekend with my boys. Like I said, the weather has been great, so we’ve spent a lot of time outside enjoying it!

Here are just a few pictures from my glorious wonderful (not study filled) weekend! I love the puffy white clouds in the sky!They just amaze me! The wonderful brilliant blue sky with these huge puffy clouds! I could sit and stare at the sky all day long when it is like that!

For Mother’s Day… Jay and Ayden got me two plants… one hanging basket one which I have pictures of on here, and another one to plant in the ground that I haven’t taken any pictures of yet. The hanging plant one is one like I’ve never seen before and might I just say that it is astounding. I am in love! They were the perfect gifts! (That, and I told Jay that he didn’t have to get anything because I would count the sunless tanning that I want to do at the end of the month as my Mother’s Day gift if I can do my 30 day workout successfully.)We did some fishing and went to Applebee’s today as well. Unfortunately, we didn’t even get a bite while we were fishing, but it was fun to just go. Ayden got a new fishing pole yesterday that is a little bit bigger and ‘more grown up’ than the little kid ones and he is doing really good casting it. I’m still a little worried because it does have a hook on the end of it after all, and I don’t want him to accidently get hooked or hook someone else when he is trying to cast it.And it wouldn’t be Mother’s Day without a picture of me and littlest sweetie pie! Oh how I love my Ayden! Here we are in front of the hanging plant he helped pick out for me.And a picture of me and my honey!Well, this is a short post, but I wanted to post something for Mother’s Day. I suppose it’s back to putting off studying, haha!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Ripped in 30: Week 1

Pre-work out: I’ve done it… I’ve lost 10 lbs, but somehow I feel like the last 8 that I want to lose aren’t going anywhere and despite my desire to see the number on the scale lower, I need to try something else. I’ve been good and have kept off the 10 lbs that I’ve lost for the last two weeks, but I’m not getting anywhere… so it’s time to amp things up. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred video, as well as reading a lot of positive reviews on it. I set out to the store to get myself a copy of it (it’s super cheap) and that’s when I saw her new video out that is called Ripped in 30. I googled it, read reviews about it, and found out that it’s supposed to be even better than her 30 Day Shred. It’s very similar to the 30 Day Shred, although it’s four different workouts. You start on level 1, do that for a week, move up to level 2, another week, and so on and so forth.

I’ve gotten to the point where now I don’t care about the weight (mostly), lets move on to the toning. Need to get this body bikini ready and I have just about 30 days until it truly gets warm for the summer. Just enough time, right?!

I’ve taken some ‘before’ measurements and pictures and if I'm brave enough, maybe I’ll post them and some ‘after’ measurements and pictures at the end of the 30 days. It’s a good way to keep myself motivated to see some results! (But only if I make some progress, hehe.) I’ll also be keeping track of my results and feelings each day after I do the workout and posting them at the end of the week.

Wish me luck!!! I’m SO ready!

Day 1: OMG! That was pretty close to brutal! I made it through the 20 minutes (plus a few minutes warm up and cool down), but I admit that I had to stop twice to catch my breath and take a drink of water. I also had to use some of the modified exercises to make it through. Let me tell you though, I was sweating at the end and SO out of breath! My thighs and abs are killing me and walking down to the basement was near impossible. I’m anticipating being pretty sore in the morning, but I have to say that I really enjoyed the workout. It was hard, especially for someone so out of shape as me, but I liked the overall tone of it. Bring on day 2!

And even better… I wanted some chocolate before my workout and told myself to not eat it, workout and then I wouldn’t want it… it worked! Although I’d still like a taste of that chocolate bunny sitting in the kitchen, I don’t want to undo my hard work tonight!

Day 2: I got up early this morning (too early for a Saturday) and did my workout after eating breakfast. It was pretty much just as hard as yesterday, maybe a little more since I was already sore from last night’s workout. Once again I had to stop a few times to catch my breath and take a few drinks and almost gave up. But I kept telling myself that it was only 20 minutes, I can do that! She does push-ups as one of the first work out and I hate those and sit-ups as one of the last ones and I hate those too, but I pushed through. Going up and down the stairs is still VERY painful and I feel it in my arms more today since I used small cans of spaghetti sauce as my light weights for the arm exercises (the lightest hand weights I have are 5 lbs and that’s WAY too much for me right now).

Day 3: I felt more sore waking up this morning than I did yesterday and thought my workout would be harder than the second day. It wasn’t any worse than the first or second day, but it wasn’t any better yet. I still had to stop three different times, usually during the two minute cardio parts to catch my breath and take a drink and about halfway through the second set I was ready to quit. But I kept telling myself to push through it and that it was only another couple of minutes until the end and I did. I’m not seeing any results yet, but it’s only the third day and I’m not expecting to. As sore as I am, I feel good as well because I know I’m doing something to become more healthy!

Day 4: I couldn’t get myself to get up at 5:45am this morning (the time that I would have had to get up in order to get my workout in and have time to get ready before having to leave), so I did my workout tonight. I definitely wasn’t as sore as the last few days which I think is good, right?! Still got pretty sweaty, only had to stop one time, and feel like it was a little bit easier. And then I did 15 minutes on my elliptical machine afterwards as well.

Day 5: Definitely not very sore this morning. I’m hoping that it’s my body getting used to working out and not because I haven’t been working out as hard because I feel like I have been working out pretty hard. Still sweating my booty off and only had to stop once again today. Working out sucks though, it’s a lot of work, lol! I’m so ready to be done with the 30 days, but I’m willing to keep going. I did another 15 minutes on the elliptical today too.

Day 6: I got my butt out of bed early (7:00am) this morning, worked my butt off on my last day of Week 1, had sweat dripping down my face, and hit up the elliptical for 15 minutes afterwards.

Day 7: Jillian suggests working out 5-6 days a week and ALWAYS ALWAYS taking at least one day off, so I’m going to do six days of each level and take the seventh off before moving onto the next one. I thought maybe I’d push through and do all 30 days straight, but it’s probably not good for your body so I won’t. Ready for my ‘day off’ tomorrow!

Overall Impression of Week 1: I made it through! I didn’t think that I would keep it up. I hate working out and I know why so many people don’t follow through. I’m going to try my best to keep plugging along with it. Jay showed me some of the P90X workouts last night and there is no way that I would be able to do them right now, so it’s probably a good thing that I’m starting out with Jillian and maybe I’ll work my way up to some of those workouts. Week 1 definitely kicked my butt, but it also made me feel good about myself so I’m going to stick with it and start Week 2 on Friday! Yeah!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

If it doesn't hurt...

...you're not doing it right.

If you're not out of breath... you're not doing it right.

If your heart rate has not sky rocketed... you're not doing it right.

I started working out on Friday, completed the routine Saturday and Sunday, and was too lazy to get up at 5:45am this morning to get it in (but I'm motivated to do it tonight). And... I HURT! It seems like every muscle in my body hurts! That's what I get though, I'm so out of shape and the whole point is to get into shape!

I'm doing Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 program (it's been called the newer version of her 30 Day Shred program). I'm going to be doing weekly posts about my progress and what I think, so be sure to look for those! I'm committed to finishing a month of workouts. I've done a month of eating good with no soda, a lot less snacks (which has also equated to a lot less eating out), and less calorie intake. I've seen results, but now it's time to tone up and tuck in!

I don't want to talk too much about it because then you'll be bored by my weekly posts because it will all just be the same thing. So enough about that.

I had a good weekend home alone. I didn't do a whole lot besides read, work out, and watch TV. I was ready for my boys to come home last night and cuddled with Ayden on the couch for a few minutes before he went to bed because they didn't get home until almost 9pm and he had to get up early this morning for school. I finished the book that I started last week. It was good, although it is the first of a three part series and the other two books are not out yet so I have to wait for them in order to find out the ending. The first one definitely left in a cliff hanger which I was disappointed about, but what do you expect. Although, it was the author had you believing one thing throughout the whole book and then told you at the end it wasn't true and left you hanging. I hate those kind of endings, only because now I have to wait until July for the next book to come out. Boo! There is another book series that I want to start, but our library doesn't have them all and I want to read them in order, well I'd like to and buying them all on my Kindle would be super expensive since there is like 17 books in the series. Maybe I can find a boxed set of them?! Or check Goodwill?! We'll see, I need to make it through finals before I start diving into books again.

We don't have any plans this weekend, despite the fact that it is Mother's Day. I told Jay that maybe we would go out to eat that morning and I would splurge. We aren't going home, it just costs too much with the price of gas. And then we have something going on the weekend after for cub scouts and the weekend after that for cub scouts as well. And by that time we are almost at the end of May already! I think that I am going to blink and that the summer will be over, ugh! I hope not! I think I'm most looking forward to the warm weather though. I had to get my winter coat out again today because it was cold out this morning (although I've been known to be a cold wimp).

I have four (maybe five) potential photo shoots for later this summer/early fall and I'm excited. Two are for family and I don't charge family, one is in exchange for a photo shoot of my family, and the other one (maybe two) is for an old high school acquaintance which would include family/maternity pictures and a potential newborn shoot. That would be exciting, although I've never done a newborn shoot so I told the lady that if she wanted me to try, I would, but that I wouldn't charge her for them if she didn't like them since it would be my first time trying it. I've only shot one other small baby and she was already about one/two months old and not very squishy anymore like newborns. Oh, and I did Jay's cousin at three months, and she definitely wasn't squishy newborn anymore!

I have one presentation left to give today and then I'm done with those for the semester. Maybe it's just me, but it seemed like the third year students were so much more stressed out at this time last year than we are trying to get everything done. I feel like we've definitely had enough to do, but that I've been able to get it all done and not get too overly stressed out. Now it's time to hunker down and study for those finals. Can we say ugh?!

CIAO! LOVE ME!