Happy New Year! ('s Eve)

It's still New Year's Eve in Oregon - you have another hour on the east coast!  Today has been a decidedly unhealthy day!  It's ok... I'm really looking forward to the new year and all the progress that I will make!  This year I'm even dragging my hubby into it!  He has told me that he is going to start the couch to 5k program!  I'm SO happy to hear that!  I truly worry about his health.  His father passed away in his early 50's and it scares  me to death.  I love Peter to the ends of the earth - my world would shatter without him.

Today we took the kids to another basketball game.  This time we actually got to watch the game! HA!  The  Beavers won - YAY!  Colin LOVES the cheerleaders - it's very obvious. He doesn't have a subtle bone in his body!  Susie loves the band (girl after my music -nerd heart) and she loves Benny Beaver (the mascot).  During the game I noticed that Benny Beaver was making his way around to us - I was so excited because I knew she would be thrilled.  Once Benny was right near us I looked down and discovered that Susie had fallen fast asleep!  Seriously?  This is the child who can't sleep when the vacuum is going - but she fell asleep during a loud basketball game! HA!  She must have been exhausted!  Last night was not exactly a great sleeping night.  She peed through her diaper in the night, but instead of crying she got out of her bed and crawled in with her brother.  Colin woke up because his bed was all wet - he came into my bed.  Susie followed him and crawled in with us.  She got our bed all wet too.  So that was my morning.  I had to strip and wash bed linens for all three beds!  What can I say, my girl is a snuggler!

So I am now going to officially announce my New Year's resolution.  I have been thinking long and hard about this.  I didn't want to pick something vague like "I want to lose weight" because 1. I've made that resolution before and nothing ever came of it. and 2. What counts as losing weight?  5 lbs?  100 lbs?  Last year I resolved to complete the couch to 5k program and honestly?  That was the first time I have ever kept a resolution!  This year I have decided that I will run at least 4 days a week every single week this year with the exception of sickness below the neck and or fever.  I will run even when I don't feel like it.  I will run in the middle of the night on the treadmill if I don't get it done in the day time.  Whatever it takes, I will get the runs in!  I figure this will add to my underlying goals of weight loss and health improvement!  I am excited!  This resolution is definitely attainable - I just have to put on my big girl panties and get down to business!

Well, I'm off!  We always celebrate the New Year at 9 pm with the kids (midnight on the east coast) so they can go to bed at a human hour!  Then Pete and I stay up and watch sci fi movies until the ball drops for the west coast.  Then we have our champagne and hit the hay.  :-)  We are an exciting lot!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  May 2013 bring to you everything you hope for!  Wishing you all a year of health, fitness, and most of all - happiness!  Thank you for reading! -Monica

Sunny Sunday!!

Today was SO beautiful!!  The sun was shining and the sky was blue.  It was really refreshing!  It was still pretty cold out - but the sunshine truly perked me up!

 I got up earlier than I intended.  Pete and I were up until 3 am shampooing the rug and the furniture.  It was worth it because it looks SO great!  The only bummer was that the kids woke us up at 6:45.  Ugh.  We managed to lounge in bed with the kids for two hours but it wasn't exactly restful!  We got up and I decided to get my run in early.  I did 2 miles on the treadmill.  It took me 30 minutes.  What the hell?  I have really slowed down!  Not to mention I could hardly stand to do the 2 miles!  I know my chest is still full of gunk - I could feel it rattling.  Plus I was coughing like crazy for about an hour afterwards!!   Hopefully I can get back to where I was in a few weeks!  It felt really great to get my run done so early!  I've noticed I eat better when I've worked out in the morning.  I'm not sure what that little mind game is all about - but it's there.  I'll just take it for what it's worth!

After my run I had to hurry up and get myself and both kids showered and dressed for church.  I'm not exactly sure why Pete didn't get the kids ready while I was running.  I suspect he had no idea what time it was!  At church we sat in the back (we always do, Susie has a habit of being rather vocal) - our seats were directly in the sunlight.  That felt amazing!  I saw a skit from the show Portlandia where the locals all flock to the sunlight. HAHAHA  It's so funny and so true! Sunlight is a rare commodity around here.  We probably won't really see any bright sun until around June.  It's funny how crazy excited I feel when I have the sunshine all around me!  It seriously is seasonal affective disorder central around here.  It would be nice to get one of those sun lamps but DAMN are they spendy!  I saw a guy on the news who makes them for your pets.  HOLY CRAP!  I can't even afford one for ME let alone my dog!  I guess there is a niche for just about everything, isn't there?

I am really excited - I found a weight bench and weights that we can afford!  They are not really high quality or anything, but I can get some weight training in!  YAY!  I can't WAIT until Pete gets paid so I can order them!

Well, I'm signing off!  I'm so tired!  We went to bed so late and got up so early.  Rough combination!!  Thanks for reading!  Have a great night!! -Monica

Exciting day.... almost...

We have been excited ALL WEEK!  We have been planning today's Oregon State basketball game all week!  The plan was to drive down to the college (it's about an hour from us), attend the game, then go out to Chinese at our favorite place.  My son has an affinity for the cheerleaders and we had planned to get pictures of him with the girls as well as the team mascot.  Everyone had their Oregon State shirts on and Susie had her Oregon State cheer leading uniform on.  We drove all the way down there and were shocked that the parking lot had so few cars.  We figured everyone was home watching the big bowl game that the football team was playing in.  We walked all the way to the ticket booth - only to learn that the game was not when we thought it was - we had missed it by four hours!  Colin cried SO HARD.  I felt SO bad about it. The only way I could cheer him up was to have a race to the car.  Let me tell you - last year this time I could NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER have done that!  EVER!  I could still feel the crap in my lungs from my cold - but it was so fun to race him!  This kid is pretty darned fast!  We got to the car WAY before Pete and Susie.  Colin thought that was just grand!  Last  year I never even would have attempted that.  I love that saying no never even dawned on me today!
   
 I didn't eat GREAT today,  but I am still well within my weight watcher's points so no worries!  The kids are still up - I'm letting them wind down a bit by watching a Veggie Tales video - they LOVE Veggie Tales!  Once they are in bed we are going to take down the Christmas stuff.  I know - bah humbug right?  Well, I have a valid reason.  Susie threw up all over our rug a few days ago.  All efforts to remove the stench have failed so we had to bring in the big guns.  We rented a rug doctor.  The only thing is - we are going to have to take down the Christmas tree to do the rug.  I have NEVER taken the tree down so early before - it seems weird, but I'm kind of glad to get my living room back!

Tomorrow is a scheduled run - I'm going to shoot for 3 miles.  I'm going to stick with treadmill training for a while.  I really need help with my pacing.  I think I've been strictly road running for too long.  I really need to learn about running.  I don't know how to train.  I have no idea what fartleks or intervals or tempo runs are.  Now that I've been running for almost a year - it's time to do things the right way.  I also need to start adding weight training again - I'm not sure how I'm going to pull that off.  As of now I am overdue for my gym dues.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be allowed in the door.  Hopefully we can get back in their good graces soon so I can hit the weights.  I wish I had some for my house - but they are so freaking expensive.  SOME day I would like to have a gym in the garage.  That would be SO ideal it's not even funny!  It would be even BETTER if we could un hoard the garage.  It's pretty bad in there.  I'm pretty sure if the cats ever got in there we might never see them again.  HAHAHA  ok - so its not THAT bad, but it's bad enough!

Well, I think the kids are officially unwound.  Time to jammy them and stick them in bed.  Then the fun starts.  Why is it so exciting to see how freaking dirty the rug was when you empty the water in the rug doctor?  It's actually kind of a scary thought.  That's another thing for the "some day" list - a rug shampooer!

Thanks for reading!  Have a WONDERFUL night! -Monica

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK!!!

So - after a month and a half hiatus - I'm back.  I have slacked off.  I have eaten garbage.  I have stopped running.  I feel like shit.  I'm glad I feel like shit though - because that is my biggest motivator!!  Today was my first day back.  I ate really cleanly - I even have 4 weight watchers points left over!  That doesn't even count my exercise points that I earned!  I jogged on the treadmill.  I only did 20 minutes - but it was better than I've done since Thanksgiving!  I am still getting over a bad cold - I thought my lungs were all better, but after my jog I was coughing like a person who has been smoking for 50 years!!  It was so hard to get my run in today - Susie has been as sick as a dog and she just wanted me to hold her all day long.  She cried the entire time I was running - that made me feel like a really shitty mom.  As soon as I finished I jumped right off the treadmill and scooped her up!!  I think I have a touch of whatever she has - I suspect I am getting a sinus infection.  My upper left tooth really hurts and I've had a root canal on it so there should be no pain at all.  Whenever I take a step, the jostling makes that tooth hurt even more.  Good Lord - I can't seem to get healthy!!

 I DID run my 10k.  It was SOOO hard and I felt like complete crap for the rest of the entire day.  I'm sure I pushed myself entirely too hard.  I think I'm going to start putting more treadmill training in.  I know I train harder on the treadmill - I keep a steady pace (no choice on a treadmill!).  I DEFINITELY need to get myself some new headphones though - today when I was running they kept falling out of my head.  VERY annoying!  

So what is new?  Not a whole heck of a lot.  I still don't know what is wrong with me.  The specialist took away my diagnosis of TN.  They basically tossed a prescription at me and sent me on my way.  I refuse to take medication when they don't even know what is wrong with me!  Thankfully I've been in a remission.  I have not had any pain- with a few brief exceptions - since early November!  YAY!  I am going to see an orthopedist though.  At first we all thought the pain in my index finger had something to do with TN but after an xray they have discovered abnormal spacing in my joint.  I have no idea what that even means.  It must not be THAT imperative, they can't get me in until January. 

Even though I have not been running, I have found a 5k that I plan on running on January 19th.  I'm pretty sure I can pull it off.  Worse case, I walk a little - no biggie.   I think having a race on the books keeps my training honest!

I'm going to cut it short tonight - I'm finding myself feeling very hungry right now.  I want to do something about it before it gets dangerous.  I'm thinking a baked potato.  That should fill me up and not be too bad on points.  Plus - I'm freezing right now, that will warm me up!

If you're still out there - thank you for reading!  I hope you have all had a WONDERFUL holiday!!!

-Monica