Checking In!

Here's a quick Friday Check In Report...

The scale was telling me the same thing as last Friday morning.  Unfortunately, bribery doesn't work on it.  So it is still sitting there trying to decide to tell me if it is 13 or 12 lbs. to go till my goal weight.  But I will admit that it probably didn't help that I went out for dinner and drinks last night with a friend.  Note to self-- Not a good idea to go out the night before a weighing in.  Oooppps!  Live and learn!  Darn it and I had such good stats for the week!  Check these out...

96.5 miles cycling

4.5 miles running

20 min. on elliptical

Well, I'll keep working and hope for better results next week.

Friday - Check In Report!

This morning I got on the scale and found I was teetering between 12 and 13 lbs. to go to my goal.  I wasn't surprised by the 13 more to go because that's what I was a couple of days ago.  But it was nice to see the scale trying to decide what to tell me; the blasted insensitive, indecisive piece of work that it is.  AND it seems to be going in the right direction but time will tell. 

I will say that I've been working for it and in the last week I've really added some stats together in the workout department.  Check these out....

10.2 miles running

28 miles cycling

45 minutes on elliptical

I did do a bit more running because the weather this last weekend was very windy and not conducive to cycling.  There were gusts up to 70mph and I can't imagine staying up right on a bike in that situation.  So instead on Saturday afternoon, I found myself testing my new running shoes on the treadmill at the gym.  So far, so good; I managed to run a little over 5.25 miles in one shot and no blisters or soreness.  In fact, the new running shoes feel lighter than air while I was running. If I do say that is a very nice feeling.

My cycling buds- Lynda & Diane a couple of weekends ago on a ride.

I also managed to commute into work on the bike twice this week.  Nice!  This weekend looks like the weather is going to be good and I hope to get about 70+ miles on the bike.  I'm thinking if this nice weather continues that I may get bike rides in the evenings and see about going to a local park for some early morning runs.  That would be a definite boost to reaching that weight goal.  That's IF i can get my sorry a$$ out of bed early in the mornings.  Since I've stopped going to those early morning Pilates classes, I've been sleeping in.  Always something to work on, I guess.  Well, that's the Friday Check In Report!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Like A Groundhog Finally Coming Out!

I will admit that I haven’t been blogging as much of late.   There have been a few reasons and I almost feel like I’m the ground hog coming up out my hole now.  To be truthful one of the foremost reason was that I had gained a bit of weight and I was rather embarrassed about the whole thing.  I was only up by about 4-5 lbs. at the most but I had just such high hopes for this year to finally reach my goal weight.  Well, I think I got the horse in front of the cart a bit and I’ve since looked at things to rectify the situation.  Mainly, I’ve started watching what I eat and trying to select lower calorie healthy choices.  Also, what I know has helped to take off few extra lbs., is that the warmer weather has hit here and I’m out biking more.

One of my favorite cartoon characters but I've felt like I've been in a bit of rut like them!

Other reasons that I have not been blogging as much, is that I was out with the flu for a few days and you know, sometimes I don’t have any real material to share.  Life sometimes is in a bit of a rut or a bit of a holding pattern.  Or, I could just say—“Life has been on auto-pilot for a bit and my brain took a bit of a retreat.”  I think that happens to all of us at sometimes.  So, here I am coming out of my hibernation; like a ground hog and WOW!  It’s Spring time!  It sounds silly I know.

It’s like I woke up and I discovered I CAN grow fingernails.  I’ve had the longest polished fingernails that I have ever had in my life!  Go figure it takes me almost 45 years to do this!  It’s like I finally learned not to bite my nails like my mom’s been telling me all those years.  Kind of funny when you think about it; I guess in some regards I AM a very slow learner.

I’ve lost those 4-5 lbs. and am now down to the point where I’m back to needing to lose those same darn 13 lbs. to get to my goal weight.  I think it’s possible for me to get there IF I focus on doing it.  The problem sometimes arises that life gets in the way but I’m going to try and to do that I want to start by getting on board here and doing a weekly check in’s.  I’ll do a weekly weigh in and report as to how I’m doing.  I find that it helps to keep me on track and focused too.  So, until I get down to my weight goal, I’ll be checking in weekly and it’s going to start tomorrow.  Every Friday, I’ll be checking in with a report to keep me accountable for what I’m doing.

So, I’ll stop my ramblings here and I’ll check in with you tomorrow! Ciao!

An Ode to Buddy the Cat

This last week Mom’s Cat, Buddy, passed away.  He was my mom’s constant companion and she loved to spoil him.  Mom has taken it rather hard.  She says she can’t believe how much she misses “his little person” around the house.  He was such great company to her.  Some of you may remember that I did a painting of him as a gift for my mom back around Thanksgiving in 2010.  I called it "Mom's 10 lbs. Butterball".

Oil on 11" x 14" Canvasboard.

I remember when she first got him and took him for car rides.  I was like “Mom, you realize this is a cat and not a dog.  Cat’s generally have issues with motion sickness in the car.”  Mom said to me, “He’s going to be a “Car Cat” if it kills him.”  And that was the end of that discussion.   Buddy actually did end up loving to go with Mom on car rides.  He would either lie in her lap or perch himself in the back window of her car as they tooled together around on the eastern Iowa roadways.  The image of them brings a smile to my face.

A earlier watercolor of Buddy that ended up getting lost in Omaha.

Mom admits that Buddy could be stubborn at times.  (I think it might have been a bit of mom’s German stubbornness that rubbed off on Buddy?)  But Buddy purred a lot to let her know he was contented and happy.  Buddy would crawl under the blankets on Mom’s bed and sleep the whole night through.  He loved to roll around on the cement patio on sunny days and he enjoyed his catnip too.  He had a pretty good life.  I sometimes would tease Mom that she treated Buddy better than she ever treated any of us kids.  I also think that if I ever get reincarnated I want to come back as someone's spoiled cat. 

He was relatively young.  It came as some what of a shock to me because Buddy was only a little over 8 years old.  But I think that it’s always a shock and hard to accept loosing a pet.  Pets are a part of us and a part of our lives.  Then, there’s the wonderful unconditional love that we received from them.  It’s hard to loose that.  I still have my days when I see someone walking a black lab dog that I miss my old dog Rocky who I had for almost 14 years.  It takes time to get over something like that.  All I can say is “Hang in there Mom!”  It gets easier with the passing of time.  Mom- my love, thoughts, and prayers are with you.

Refocusing & Resolutions…

It seems as of late that I’ve been getting side tracked with holidays and thoughts meanwhile my New Years Resolutions have gotten lost in the mix.  So last night as I recovering from noodle legs (a result of running 2.75 miles on treadmill then doing 30 minutes on the elliptical machine), I started to look over my New Years Resolutions that I had finally came up with at the beginning of Feb.  And here’s what I came up with…

"Breaking Dawn"; Poured Watercolor on 9" x 12" Paper that I did last week.

1)      Save More Money- I’m doing really well on this one.  In fact, thanks to getting back a tax refund that I opted to put part of in savings I’m ahead of the game by almost $200.  Yahoo!

2)      Unclutter My Life- Well, this one I really have not been working on.  I was hoping that by putting it closer to the top of the list that I would be better about it.  Nope!  That is not the case.  However, I have started a small pile for the Good Will.  I just really need to get on this one more.  Who knows?  Maybe this weekend I will try to work on a closet and go through boxes and what not that are just collecting dust.

3)      Learn Spanish- I have found a local community education program that offers a Beginning Spanish class on Monday nights which will fit in nicely with my schedule.  The registration opens up on March 12 and the class begins on the 19^th if there is room available.  I hope there will be.

4)      Reach My Goal Weight- Can you say… “Ouch! OUCH! And Ouch!”  I’m up to needing to lose 14 lbs. instead of the 12 lbs. that I had at the beginning of the month.  After seeing that on the scale yesterday morning, I got rather angry with myself.  Then, I pushed myself last night to do 2.75 miles running and then 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.  OMG!   It was noodle leg time on the three flights of stairs on the way up.  This last month, the temperatures were so mild for winter time that I was able to get in some extra miles on the bike and I still tired to get a good amount of time in at the gym and I did go to the last of my pilates classes.  But I really need to work on watching what I eat.  Course, it probably doesn't help that my boxes of Girl Scout Cookies got delivered today.  Awwwww.... talk about a weakness!  But they are SO yummy!  But I'll try to pace myself! If that's possible with Girl Scout Cookies?!?

5)      Cut Down on Eating Out- I started off the month of Feb. pretty good.  I limited it to once a week.  Then, as the month continued on I loosened up and it was nearly as pretty.  I had one week where it was about 5 times in a week.  Thus, leading to more money being spent out and more weight that I need to lose to get to my goal weight.

6)      Do One Century- I really can’t work on this yet.  However, I did register for a BIG ride.  I signed up for RAGBRAI. (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa)  It’s a ride that takes place over 7 days in late July and covers a total of 472 miles distance.  It starts in northwestern Iowa and works its way toward southeastern Iowa.  I find out the results of the lottery entry on May 1^st and then I’ll know for sure whether I am in or not.  Keep your fingers crossed!  I'm really hoping to get in because the ride is going through my hometown of Cedar Rapids this year.  A great deal of my friends and relatives can't believe I haven't done this ride already but the timing usually never has worked out before.  But this year I'm hoping that the planets align and I can get in! 

STATS FOR THE MONTH….

Biked 123 miles

Ran 25.50 miles

Spent 2 hours & 47 Minutes on Elliptical

&

Up to 10 books read so far this year!(10 out of 60 not too bad!)