Good grief!

The last two weeks kind of exploded on me. Between work, theater, my mouth, theater, being a mom and theater, I didn't get any kind of workouts in. But that doesn't mean I sat on my butt watching TV and eating chips! Oh no! I was running thither and yon, gathering cookies and concessions items, shuttling Kels to her volunteer gig, doing snap shots for "Mama Versus the Mob" and all sorts of neat ortho and oral surgery stuff.

Okay, time to get back on track. My goal for this week:
Mon (4th)- 45 minutes cardio and weights- DONE!!! :)
Tue (5th)- 45 minutes cardio- DONE!!! :)
Wed (6th)- 45 minutes cardio and weights- managed 30 minutes of biking.
Thur (7th)- show
Fri (8th)- show
Sat (9th)- swim
Sun (10th)- 45 minutes cardio

Wish me luck!

Week of Sept 20

Date ----- Planned (35 min) ------ Actual

Sept 20---walk------------------2.1 mi bike ride
Sept 21---walk, bike, weights----
Sept 22---none------------------
Sept 23---none------------------
Sept 24---treadmill and bands---
Sept 25---none------------------
Sept 26---none------------------

Week of Sept 13

Date-----Planned (Goal 30 min)----------------Actual

Sept 13----Walk----------------------2 mile/40 minutes
Sept 14 ---Bike, wak & weights-------15min walk, 15 min bike & weights
Sept 15---Walk----------------------40 minutes
Sept 16---Bike-----------------------30 minutes/14 miles
Sept 17---Walk----------------------25 minutes (stopped due to asthma)
Sept 18---Swim---------------------15 minutes
Sept 19---Rest----------------------Rest

Week of Sept 6th (yes, I'm backtracking)

Date -------------- Planned ---------------Actual

Sept 6 -------------Geohike -----------4 mile Geohike
Sept 7 -------------none ----------------none
Sept 8 ------Treadmill and bike ----- .5 mile walk, 2 mile bike
Sept 9 ------------Geohike -----------.5 mile Geohike
Sept 10 ------------none---------------- none
Sept 11 -----------Geohike--------- .75 mile Geohike
Sept 12 ------------rest -----------------rest

Triathlon

Alright, so I said in my last post that I am going to do a Triathlon. The Girlfriends and Dudes Triathlon is in July of 2011, so I've got roughly 9.5 months left to train. The Triathlon consists of a half mile swim downstream the Columbia River, a 12 and a half mile bike ride on mostly flat terrain and a 3 mile run, which I plan on power walking. My overall goal: FINISH Now for some down and dirty facts and figures: This time last year I weighed in at 206 pounds and my measurements were 45 - 43.5 - 47.5 As of two days ago, I weighed in at 195 pounds and my measurements were 44.5 - 42 - 47 I've decided to not focus on the weight and measurements and instead focus on what I can DO. It will still be neat to come back every month or so and see if I've made any sort of progress in the weight and inch department. So far, I know I can do 40 minutes of power walking, which equals to about 2 miles. I know I can bike 12 miles, but am not sure how long it would take me. I do know I can last 30 minutes at 13 to 15 miles per hour, which equals out to 6 - 7 miles. I found out something VERY important today. The swimming portion is going to kick my butt! I lasted 5 minutes before I had to stand up. Part of the swimming rules is you can stand, but you can't move forward. SOOO.... that's what I'm up against. I plan on posting every other week or so....

Long overdue update

On the work front:

Kayla is 14 months old now, walking, talking some, signing and is overall a fun little one to be with.

Theater:

I directed "12 Angry Pigs" July 2nd, which was a ton of fun.


We're opening "Murder in Green Meadows" on October 1st.

"Mama Vs. The Mob" is October 23rd, which Martin is in. He's a gangster. :) I'll have to get pictures of him in his costume.

We will be resurrecting the zombie hoard for the Halloween show, "The 50th". I get to be a zombie and help out with make up.


Yes, we're doing THREE SHOWS for October.

We just held auditions for "She Loves Me", our Christmas show. I will only be House Manager for that one.

November is auditions for "Over the River and Through the Woods", which I will Assistant Director for.

Family:

Kelsie is a Senior this year. She just signed up to volunteer at the Humane Society and will be working with cats. I think this will be part of her Culmination Project.

I've discovered Geocaching, a fun treasure hunt type "game" you play using a GPS. It will probably have to be put on hold during the rainy season. That's okay. :) They will still be there when it finally dries up.



Yes, those are geocaches. The 5 way splitter, the bubblegum and the rock all held logs that we were to sign, then get online and say we found them. The big black thing next to the rock is Merilee's Grandpa's HUGE and ANCIENT GPS unit, but by golly, it works!

My Geocaching buddies: Jaynie, Karen and Merilee.


We went to Disneyland in July... FINALLY. We had promised Kelsie we'd take her when she was 10. That didn't work out. We finally made good on our promise, 8 years later. We had a blast!! Disneyland for 3 days, Knot's Berry Farm, Universal Studios and Medieval Times.

Future plans:

I'm looking at doing a Triathlon in July 2011. The Girlfriends and Dudes Triathlon consists of a 1/2 mile swim downstream the Columbia, a 12.5 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run, which I will power walk. I will be posting more about this later.

Been BUSY!!!

Lots going on around here! Mostly work.
I'm loving my job.
The baby is a hoot to play with.

Isn't she a DOLL?!?!

I had a birthday.
Thanks, Dawn, for the balloons...

...all 40 of them.
And a St. Patrick's Day party at Dorinda's,
where my Magenta Mates literally showered me with gifts.
Awww... thanks, guys!

And lately... I just haven't been feeling like myself....

Oh... maybe that's why. :)
Aren't we LOVELY?!?!

Yup.... busy.

I guess it IS Spring...

I am totally amazed.
I don't remember the bulbs being this tall this early last year.
I just hope we don't have a freeze that kills them off.

Day six...

I had forgotten how much fun a 7 month old can be.
Yesterday morning we hung out at the library.
In the afternoon we went for a walk and wound up at a park.
This morning- a photo shoot.

Day three

Day three of the new job and both me and Baby are down with a bad cold. :(

What a FUN kid she is! We've already had a few adventures. I'm really enjoying this job.

This morning, the older brother, Bryce, stayed home from school with a fever. He's got it, too.

He was in the office with his dad when I heard Eric (the dad) saying "There's a deer in our yard!!"

I grabbed my camera and...

Sure enough!



It's Mama was in the yard across the street. That's the best my little point and shoot could do through the window.

Quick blog

Haven't updated in a bit... so will do a quick one before heading to work.

Ah, work. At this point it should be called "Play". I get to play with a 6 month old girl practically all day. And what an EASY kid she is! She is happy to sit and play for 30 minutes at a time!

The only thing she does NOT like is tummy time. Her and I are going to go rounds with that. The Dad is glad I'm going to have her do tummy time. I guess she wasn't getting it at the day care they had her in.

I know for sure I have (at least) two hummers that visit my feeder, one male and one female. The dark headed one is male. He has a little flash of red on his throat, but it's not visible in this photo. The lighting wasn't wonderful and the flash on the camera kept scaring him away. The female, on the other hand... seemed to LOVE the flash and would almost pose for the camera.



Alright! Off to PLAY!

Spring?

Crocus

Rose


Tulip


Daffodils




Hyacinth

Warning!!!

I'm going to get on my soap box for a bit.

If you don't like soap box posts, then you might want to skip this one.


I go to Planned Parenthood to get my birth control pills. They're cheaper and I can buy several packs at a time, which allows me to continuous cycle. The cramps have gotten to be debilitating enough to warrant continuous cycling, but my prescription plan will only allow me one pack a month... uhhhmmm... yeah. The math just doesn't work that way.

At any rate, whenever I go, there's usually people out at the opening of the parking lot. Today was no different:


Honestly, I just wanted to go up and slap them. And then ask them, "Who are YOU to take away MY right to choose?"

I also wanted to add, "Instead of sitting here on your asses, why don't you go inside, pick a scared girl and try to help her through this, try to somehow make her life better instead of telling her how lousy she would be for choosing to end a pregnancy that will change her life, potentially for the worse! You want her to keep the baby? FINE! Help her with schooling! Help her get a job to earn money to raise this baby. Be a MENTOR if she chooses to adopt it out! But don't sit here on your asses and tell me how to run my life."

Now, I don't condone using abortion as a means of birth control. If you don't want a kid, do something about it BEFORE hand.

But if a girl comes in, pregnant of no fault of her own (rape, incest... sadly, it DOES happen), then yes, the option should be there.

Or if the pregnancy were to somehow harm the mother or put her life in danger. Then yes, let her have that choice.

Just don't take the choice away from all of us.

What dreary weather...

This Seasonal Affective Disorder is kicking my hiney today. Even exercising under the sun lamps didn't help. I was so excited to see a mostly clear sky this morning, but the next time I looked out, it was over cast and dark.

Here's what I did yesterday on the treadmill. Yesterday was a good day, despite it being over cast and rainy. I got a LOT done.


Here is today's feeble effort. I figure, hey, at least I did SOMETHING.


And on the nail biting front... I'm getting there.


My left pinky has taken quite the hit. The nail ripped so I had to trim it short. Then I sliced the tip of it open with one of my new kitchen knives.
Well, now I know for sure they're sharp!


In other news, the Geo is officially dead. The timing belt broke. It would cost between $800 to $1,000 to fix it. So.... no more Geo.
RIP Blue
1992-2009

Yay!!

I start my new job on Monday the 25th. I've been looking around the east side of town to see what there is to do with a 6 month old. Not a whole lot. Hoping her mom doesn't mind if I take her a bit further west for a bit of fun. :)

I did 45 minutes on the treadmill. Got a pic of it, but haven't uploaded it as yet. Will do that tomorrow. It's almost time for bed.

Found a lovely little website, thanks to Merilee.
http://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html
If you click on Meal Planner (on the left), input your information, it will take you to another page where it tells you how much of each food group you should eat. You can then input the foods you've eaten and it will fill up the chart and show you how much you've eaten and how much you have left. It will also count calories and fat for you. :) I'm very visual in this respect, so this has been extremely helpful.

Alright, bedtime. I hope to catch a picture of the male hummer that's been visiting my feeder. He's FAST, that one is!

Driving to Tri-Cities and back in one day is for someone MUCH younger than me.
I don't plan on doing it again anytime soon.
This is the reason we went over. We have inherited a small pickup.
A '91 Ford Ranger XLT.

We've actually been thinking about trading the Geo in for a truck. While we love, love, LOVE the Geo, it just doesn't haul that much. It's been a great little car, though! As soon as Mechanic Dave gets it up and running, we'll be selling it.

BUSY DAY!

I went swimming today! Felt like I needed some exercise that wouldn't batter the body quite so hard. But let me tell you!! When you try to swim UPSTREAM in the river rapid section... WOW!
Let's just say that now my shoulders are sore.


Martin and I just took our poor sick Geo in to the mechanic. Not sure what's wrong with it, but want to get it up and running so we can see about selling it.
We've inherited a small pickup truck from his Dad and it will be far more useful than the Geo. It was (and still is) a great little car for kicking around town. Kelsie isn't interested in driving it because it's a manual. As luck would have it, the "new" truck is an automatic.
Now I just need to get her to study and take the test to get her permit!
Wish me luck.


On the job front:
I was offered the job I interviewed for on Sunday.
I've accepted it.
YEEEE HAW!!!

Back to changing diapers and mixing bottles, baby food and messes...
BUT
also back to doing fun projects, play dates, outings, and watching a small child learn the wonders of the world.

It could be worse...

but I'm glad it's not. :)
By "worse", I mean I could have this job:




I suppose if I really, truly, absolutely needed SOME sort of job, I would be thankful for it. But I'm glad it's not gotten to that point yet.

Went to a resume writing workshop at Worksource today. Usually their workshops are dull and dry, but I actually got something out of this one: I got one on one help! I've found that it's extremely difficult to get help at Worksource unless you're the squeeky wheel type.
I'm not.
Not usually.
This time I just got lucky.

After the workshop, I found a spot to sit and each lunch, then got out and wandered a bit, playing with my new camera. What a creepy looking tree. I may go back after it's leafed out and get another shot.



A couple friends of mine are doing the Couch to 5K program.
The first day of the program calls for alternating 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking. Riiiiight... being asthmatic, I know that this will be close to impossible. Sooo...
I "dumbed it down".
30 seconds jogging, then 5 MINUTES of recovery. I managed to jog a total of 4 times before the coughing REALLY hit. My hope is to slowly increase jogging time and reduce recovery time. More than likely I will never be able to jog a full 5K, but even just improving the length of time I CAN jog will be a benefit.