Looking to the future and our trip to the look out…

Mike took a picture of me today and I like it. It’s not a great picture, that’s not what I mean but it is how I am feeling right now and it shows.

I am feeling a bit lost, a bit worried, a bit apprehensive, a bit sad but at the same time I am feeling this…

A lot happy, a lot proud, and so pleased that Mike has figured out where he wants to go in life. It took him a couple years pass high school to figure it out but he knows.

Today we went to the overlook in Crosby. This is the first year it has ever been opened on new years eve and we had to go up there and take some pictures. Take a peek at something we never get to see this time of year.

You know how I love taking pictures of Mike so I’m going to share some more.

And me and the dogs…

 

So to every single one of you wonderful, terrific, blessed friends out there HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Ice-skating…and…

It was 1988 the last time I was on ice-skates. We were working with Disney On Ice traveling the USA and the skaters we were guarding and traveling with tried to teach me to skate. It was sorta like teaching a dog to climb a tree but I did learn how to move frontwards and backwards and you know something else, after all these years I strapped on a pair of skates and didn’t fall plus was able to teach 3 of my wee ones how to move a bit.

Yesterday I took Rachel, Abby and Anton ice-skate at our local fitness center. We had a blast for 3 hours. Froze our feet and fingers and laughed the whole time.

  

  

Love these guys!!!

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Another bit of news….And for me a mom of an only child…it’s great news but heartbreaking too. Mike has picked a college, gotten all the paperwork done, has set a start date and will be 1000 miles away from home. Before my 50th birthday, our 32nd anniversary, the end of E2E challenge Mike will be heading to Laramie Wyoming. I am so very proud of Mike, beyond any words I am. I can’t imagine life here without him either. Tons and tons of mothers have gone through this, I know and they’ve lived, I know that too however this is me and I’m not everyone else and I am going to find this one of the toughest 4 months ever. I will not let Mike know just how much this effects me because I only want him to see just how proud of him I am. He knows how sad it makes me but he does know I know how important this is to him and I will support him every single way possible.

I just wanted to share.

Take care everyone and have a blessed weekend.

Eve to Easter Challenge

 
14 weeks to work on toning my body, losing the last few pounds and to begin to become the runner I want to be. I really, really want to become a runner.  Now last year I started running and until I got hurt I was doing pretty decent but now I haven’t really done any running since October so I’m going to start over and see where I am and work from there.
Also another super cool thing about this challenge, it ends 2 weeks before my 50th birthday and my 32nd anniversary. How cool would it be to be in the best shape of my life before I’m 1/2 through my life? You know I plan on living to be 101 years old. Also my first 5K for the year is in April or 1st week in May. I am going to run the full race and have a better time then my 32:48 (which was a terrific time last year but something to do better this coming year).
This challenge has some requirements I’ll list each one with my responses.
The first one is two blog twice a week on the challenge. One to be linked to the challenge and one to just tell you how it’s going and what’s I’ve learned or done towards my goal. I love to be accountable, to have and to read what others are doing and what they have to teach me each week and me to teach them.
The second is my weigh in and a measurements. I’m not ready to share my measurements so I’m going to add my bust, waist, hips, arms and legs together as one measurement and will post a total number each month of what I’ve lost. However you’ll get a weekly weigh in though I’m not going to be trying to lose weight I’m trying to tone up and become a runner.

Here’s my weight….     
Here’s my total measurement….166” from bust, waist, hips, arms and thighs. A little more then I expected but gotta start some where's. Mir insists I put my waist measurement, I hate sharing it...you don't know how much I hate sharing it. But rules are rules...39".
The third is a list of what I want to accomplish in exercise, calories, fluids. I am going to start working to become a runner. I have the information from Brads 5K in 100 days and will also use the C25K program from my itouch. Mike also bought me a nikeplus that keeps a running tally of my speed and distants.

I’m going to keep my calorie intake under 1500 calories and my fluids at 100+ oz a day. I started back at the gym this week and my goal will be 3 days a week there and 2 days of week out here. 3 days of cardio and weight training at the gym and 2 days of running out here. It’s winter time here so it may be more fast walking then running for now but with the yaktrax’s that Michele sent me last year I can get out no matter the weather.
The forth is an item of clothing I’d like to fit into. I found on clearance a beautiful swimming suit. Well really the top. The bottom was a mismatch but for now I’ll use the both as my clothing item.
The fifth a picture in said clothing but for me it doesn’t go on yet so that won’t work, yet. Here’s the picture. It says it’s a size 14 but I’m sure that’s for a midget because I’m wearing 14 now and this is way on the tight side. But by April, look out Jim, here I come again.

The sixth must link up every Sunday for all 14 weeks. Because I never know what my weekends will bring I do my weekly post on Fridays and link up as soon as Mir has the linky up.
The seventh stop by and visit and support at least 3 fellow challenge buddies and our own personal challenge buddy. My goal is too check in with everyone of my fellow challengers once a week and I will enjoy having a personal buddy.
The eighth, a quote that means something to me, something that will make me think each week. "If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it."
-Priscilla Welch
The ninth is a book or books that will in help my journey the next 14 weeks. I have three that I’ll be using during this 14 week challenge.

The first one is for me to figure out where I am in life. This is sorta like a guide to help me into the second half of my life. The other two are pretty self explanatory, at least so far. I got them from Mir for our last challenge, our Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge.
And the last rule, NO QUITTING!!! I’m not a quitter so I’ll be here from beginning to end.
So there is my first post about our challenge, my goals and what I intend to do to get to where I want to be.
We all can do this. It’s so important to do this for you, for me. I need this and I know it. How about you? You can do this, I know you can….I have the utmost faith in all of you. Let’s get to work and become the person we want to be.
Take care my friend. Blessings to you all!!
P.S. If anyone has a bodybugg or any one of those armband type of devices they do not use I would be interested in buying it from you for a fair price. Or can anyone tell me how well they work and are they worth $200.00?
Oh everyone, I just got my challenge buddy. Meet Casey. I can't wait to learn from her. YEAH!!! I am excited.

Games….

Mike wanted Electronic Monopoly for Christmas so that’s what I got him along with a couple pairs of work pants and a sweatshirt. On Christmas day it was beautiful, something very unheard of here in Minnesota. Most years it’s cold, windy, lots of snow but this year we have had maybe a total of 2” of snow and it hasn’t stayed around. Our average temp up here has been in the 20-30’s and we’ve even had some 40’s. It’s been awesome except for the resorts, snowmobilers and kids that really want to play in the snow. To give you an idea, here is what Mike wore Christmas day.

And he’s been riding his dirt bike everywhere. Mike’s been working off and on and yesterday worked in Wisc for the day. Tomorrow North Dakota. All with an insulation company. He loves the travel but the days are very long, usually 8 hours of travel with a 10 hour work day plus then he has to drive home too. It’s working and thank goodness he’s young, it would kill me off though I do get up with him, go and exercise (yes yesterday I was at the gym at 4:30 in the morning) and I wait up for him at night plus of course daycare during the day.

Okay, the game….Mike is such a snot, I have never, ever won a game of monopoly, even when I’m the banker and could cheat I have never won, however the turd wins just about every time and this time was no different but he loved it and I so love playing with him.

Today I am going through a few of our toys the kids no longer play with. I put then on freecycle and have a woman coming by tomorrow morning to pick up whatever I come up with. Really I already have a tote of them but will get a few more out of here. Daycare is shrinking and it’s time to purge a bit. Rachel and Abby are here and I’m not sure what we’ll do for sure. I am betting a visit to great grandma, some baking and a movie then tonight I need to go and clean the Odd Fellow’s Hall and just maybe go out to dinner with a dear friend. Gotta call her first and see if tonight is the night she’s available.

That’s my day and it’s time to fix some breakfast and get moving. So take care my friends and have an awesome blessed day!!

My 400 mile walking partners…and 2012 challenge…

Michele and Pam joined me in January for a goal of walking 400 miles in 2011.  I walked almost 650 miles Pam walked better then 870 and I’m not sure the exact number for Michele but she’s way up past the 400 miles also. We did great and I am very proud of Pam and Michele for joining me in this challenge. It was a great way to really kick my life style journey off and to keep me accountable all year long. Thank you both Michele and Pam for joining me.

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Now I will have a new goal for 2012….anyone want to join me? Here it is…

It works out to 12.5 miles a week. It is a goal that will really take some commitment for me but I so want to become a runner in 2012 so I am going to try my very best. As my practice gets going maybe it’ll become easier but I know for the first few months it will really in hard.

So again, thank you to Pam and Michele for this years help and commitment and support. I so appreciated it.

Take care my friends and have a blessed day!!  

reflection…and…

First because everyone wants to know how the dress reveal went….remember I told you Jim is not romantic, he’s not nostalgic, he’s not one for any compliments and he’s not one for really any support and even though I’d love to tell you he fell head over heals in love with me again, I’d love to tell you his tongue fell out of his mouth, I’d love to tell you he just stood there with his eyes pooping out of his head …. well it didn’t happen. His only comment was, your boobs are bigger then they were when I bought that dress for you. Nothing else. Did it hurt my feelings, no not really because after 32 years of being married to a man that knows how to say things not nice he didn’t say anything mean or unjust. He just didn’t say anything I would of love to hear. So for my next challenge I’m not doing anything to impress or ask for compliments, I’m just going to do it for me. 

Now to reflect on my 2011, it really was an awesome year. Now I didn’t lose tons of weight, only about 25 lbs total but I lost 3-4 dress sizes. I went from barely walking fast to running a 5K in 32 minutes. I went from lifting 5-10 lbs to anywhere’s from 25-110 lbs. I went from not being able to do a sit up to doing 30 semi vertical ones. I went from not a zip for push ups to 15 (not the girl kind either), planks I can do 5 at 45 seconds each. So I am happy with what my body can do and just think if I could of done that much in one year, what will this year bring?!  I do have tons to learn though, I can not keep a journal. As much as I would love to write everything down I just have the attention span of a knat and can maybe do a week or two. So for next year I want to learn to do this. Maybe I should just put a notebook out on the counter and write in that. I used myfitnesspal for a long time off and on and it is awesome but to sit down and either figure out my day foods and exercise or remember it at the end of my day just doesn’t always work. So something to really work on. I have gained self confidence that I didn’t even know I had. I left my house and applied for, trained for and tested for driving bus. I can do this and talk to people and meet people and not feel like a fat snow-woman. That’s what I use to think all the time, a snow-woman. Fat, ugly and not worth to much. Now I’m still not high on my list of worth much but I’m not at the bottom any more. I’m creeping up and feeling much better about me. I still have to give credit to Allan for a lot of that. He had faith in me long before I did. And my friends, Kim, Terri, Brenda…they are always in my corner and each in their own ways have helped me tons on my journey. My biggest fan is Mike, my son. No matter what day of the week it is he’s there to cheer me on. He’s come to all my races, he’s pushed me when I really didn’t want to go more, he’s helped me find out I can climb that wall, I can swim that river, I can run that race.

So for 2011, I did good. For 2012, I am going to do great. I am going to keep up what I’ve been doing with a bit more follow though, a bit more push to get to where I really want to be.

2012 is going to be a huge year. A year to have an empty nest, a year to turn 50, a year to learn to do much more on my own, a year to grow (or really shrink) and year to stretch and learn.

Thank you all for your help, for your support, for your ideas, your inspiration, for your errors for me to learn from, for my errors to maybe teach someone not to do that. Thank you for so much.

Take care my dear friends. Blessings to you all!!!

Merry Christmas my friends….

May The Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Merry Christmas my awesome friends. Blessings to you all!!

 

P.S. I am taking a little time off, I’ll be back before the New Year. Just taking some time for family and friends and me.

Christmas party…

Today was such a great day. We had our daycare Christmas party. The kids had a blast and I got a few super amazing gifts. I have to share this one the most. Rachel, Joss mama, is a quilter and she made me this. She made me cry because of it’s uniqueness and the love she put into it.

 

The kids also gave me a birdfeeder and seed, a heart necklace and a popcorn bowl and popcorn.

The kids enjoyed their goodies and had a blast watching each one open theirs.

 

Joss, Alex and Ron had to leave after our party so that just left Anton, Abby and Rachel and they wanted to watch a movie in my bedroom so I set them up with the Grinch and they enjoyed the quiet and dark.

It was a great day today and I so love all my little and not so little ones. These kids are why I make my other jobs work so that I can stay here and enjoy them.

I hope you all have a great Christmas. Take care my friends. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Are you ready?

I am about as ready for this part of Christmas as I can be this year. I have all the daycare goodies taken care of. I have my families finished up and wrapped and I made my aunt these for her family. When we went to the cities on Saturday I wore my scarf that I had made and liked and Pat more then liked it, she loved it so I gave it to her and she wanted me to make 10 for her family. We went shopping for some supplies and between what we got together and what I had here I was able to make her 17 of them so she had some for gifts and some for herself. She received them yesterday and said she loves them all so a task well done.

 

This will be my last full week of driving  bus for now. The man I’m subbing for will be back on the 3rd so I’ll work on subbing for others and activities. I am on the list for a full time position and it can happen anywhere’s from now to a couple of years. I don’t mind because I really want to keep my daycare too so if I can just get enough runs in to help make a living I’m happy.

Life here has been busy. I always thought I was busy before but add driving bus 6+ hours a day on top of my other stuff, well now busy is an understatement. Of course it’s what keeps me going so I’m not about to complain any and next week will be a lazy week with just daycare and only 2-4 kids each day.

I haven’t even been to the gym since the 12th but will go on Saturday morning and next week when life is back to normal. I am sure I’m getting some of my cubby back. The scale says no but I can feel things are not as tight as they were and they weren’t that tight before. I’ve been working on ideas and thoughts on what I want to get down in 2012 but first I need to reflect on 2011 which really, truly was a great year. Like everyone it had it’s ups and downs but I am feeling pretty darn good about what I’ve been able to achieve. I’ll share my thoughts, ideas and what not some time next week.

Well I’m off in just a few minutes. Mike has been off part of this week (he got laid off last week) but goes to work tomorrow but it has been such a treat having him here. He’s been watching Joss for me and she just adores him.

I’ll try and be back soon. I am sorry I haven’t visited to much but like I’ve said before most of you come to my in-box so at least I am able to keep up on what’s going on. I’ll be better at supporting and commenting and so on when I find a few more hours in my day or at least when things slow down a bit.

Take care and have a blessed hump day. Only one day of school left for my kids and then our Christmas party. YEAH!!! Can’t wait to just spend time with my wee ones laughing, playing and enjoying them.

Blessings my friends.