Saturday, Catch up Day!

Its nice to have nothing planned for my Saturday. Well, I do have to bake a family birthday cake for Celina. That gives me something fun to do. I will have to make a trip to the store for carrots. It's the one main ingredient I forgot to pick up on Friday.

I slept in till 6am, got in my hour of yoga, had Steve join me for a few planks then I finished up the rest of my morning exercises. Out the door I went to get in some cold miles of running. Just three because I'm still stuck on running just thirty minutes for my feet instead of trying to run more miles. The temperature went from 60 this week to the teens this morning. Burr... it was Chilly but I was still sweating by the end of my run.

 

I wanted to go check out the American Swedish Institute on Wednesday. For the month of February, they were doing free admission every Wednesday from 10am to 8pm. Might as well do this while its free. There wasn't a lot to see in this castle. It was just nice to go check it out and check that off my todo some day list. Next up will be the Walker Art Center, it's free the first Saturday of every month. My kind of deal! Maybe we will go see that next weekend?  

Sunday is already planned out for us since we will be celebrating Celina's birthday with dinner. I am making pasta shells, bread and of course the cake.

Logan has the last indoor soccer game on Sunday.

Happy 17th Birthday Celina!!

Celina turned 17 on Friday. How did seventeen years go by so fast?

Celina celebrated her birthday at the MOA Friday night with friends. Dinner, cake and then off to do the Fly America ride and shop.

Fruit tart for breakfast

Breakfast, I'm never hungry

I'm not a hungry when you wake up kind of person. It takes me a long time to feel hungry in the morning. I still eat breakfast but it's more like forcing myself to eat. I wish that was the case for the rest of the day. I eat a very, very slow breakfast. It takes me some times three hours to eat one slice of bread with peanut butter. Most days it's probably around two hours. I took one bite of my bread this morning so far and I've been up since five am. I'm hoping by the time I finish my three mile run, I'll be more in the mood to eat something. I'm not sure why I have never liked eating in the mornings. I do like to eat at night, so I more then make up for my morning lack of appetite.

It's pretty foggy out this morning. It won't stop me from running. I'd love to get in a bike ride this afternoon. We are going to be in the 50's so that will be perfect! It was raining all day on Monday so I skipped working out. I got more then enough of my workout from my full day of work.

 

Zoey has me trained really well. She knows how to get what she wants. If she wants a treat, she grabs a sock and won't let go till you give her the right treat. If she wants to go outside, it's a low growl till I get up. If she wants to play, lots of barking till you pay attention to her. She's a smart dog! And now I'm well trained!

Zap There Goes All My Energy!

I started getting a cold last week and it's now full blown! It's completely zapping my energy.

I've done nothing this weekend other then rest 99% of the time. Saturday, I was so tired that I couldn't even finish my daily exercises and it was a struggle to do my planks. Sunday, I woke up late, took some Advil to make me feel better and then I was able to do my daily exercises and then go for a run. Not only did I run three miles, but I went for a 43 minute and eight mile bike ride in 50's temps for February.  After my bike ride, I crashed and was sleeping on the floor for a few hours. I still feel tired and just zapped. It's about all I can do to sit up and feel like a normal person. Forget getting anything done this weekend. It's all about rest, feel better and do nothing. I'm missing out on enjoying our warm up this weekend but thankfully, we will stay warm pretty much all week till Friday when its going to snow and the temps are going to drop.

I did feel the best this morning while out on my bike ride. I was hoping this is what I needed to feel better and not be sick. I'm pretty sure I completely over did it with my three mile run followed by all those bike miles.

It sure felt great to be back out biking. I really missed this route. I took the shorter route since this was the first time I was out riding since the late fall. I lose a lot of biking fitness over the winter. It almost feels like I'm starting all over again. My legs felt great but I knew from my Garmin that my speed was a lot slower. I was okay with going at a nice bike pace and not trying to push myself to go faster and ride harder. I just wanted to be outside and enjoy the ride. I plan to do more riding the rest of the week, regardless of how I feel. I will just wait till after working to save my energy for what matters the most.

 I'm happy that I have a busy work week ahead. My goal is to pick up a few more new clients this next month. I'll be spending afternoons working on advertising and hopefully going on estimates which will result in new clients.  When you own three businesses, you have to do everything and I'm the only one who can make things happen. It's up to me to get out there and get more business. Having my own business does give me the flexibility to take afternoon naps, go biking and running. It's also easy to get lazy and do nothing other then go through the motions. I'm sure once I'm feeling 100% again and the weather stays in the 50+F and warmer my energy level and wanting to do more will also increase.

A little Zoey pix..

Feeling like spring at 60+F in February!

It sure feels like spring today with temperatures at 60+F in February! We are going to have a nice warm weekend till next Friday when we are expecting snow for Celina's birthday. Very Unfair!!!

I am still running my three miles every single morning with out skipping any this week. Amazing!!! I'm on a running streak!

 

 

After my run this morning, I sat out on our front step to cool off for a bit while Zoey was outside in the yard. I've had to watch her because she is digging up our grass. I'm not happy when I see holes out there and she comes in with muddy paws. At least she is good about me getting a bowl of water to wash off her paws before she tracks mud all over the house.

 

 

Steve went out to dinner last night with his brother. That left me and the kids on our own to make food. I decided to make some chicken lettuce wraps since this is a good easy meal for me to make. They turned out delicious again! I had the leftovers for lunch today.

 

 

 

I was happily surprised when I came home from working to find that Steve finished most of the trim upstairs. He started in our room and put in all the base trim. Just the door trim needs to be nailed in place. Looks like I have some white painting to do in the door openings. The rest of the trim in the hall upstairs will be finished on Saturday. I'll finish up the rails too with the last two coats of white enamel high-gloss paint. I love the clean look of the wide white trim. We should have finished this ages ago when we put in the maple hard wood floors upstairs. Projects tend to extend in our house over a few years.. or many years.

 

 

I'm off to finish up working after my extended lunch break with a power nap. I should be outside enjoying the warm weather but I'm inside sleeping instead and blogging. I'll get plenty of fresh air this weekend. My plan is to get in my three miles Saturday and Sunday morning then get the bikes out for a 10+ mile ride. I'm excited to get the bikes out!!! Just wish we had some green outside to go along with the 60's. I'll take no snow on the ground since all of it will be gone after today!

 

Happy Friday. What are your plans for the weekend?

How to cure feeling anxious

Caffeine defiantly makes me feel anxious. The only way I know how to get rid of that feeling is to go run. I tend to worry a lot about pretty much everything and anything. The what if's? I think of the worst possible outcome and then realize it's not that bad. I might have to make life changes, but that's small in comparison. I just need to refocus and get back on track to tackling my goals and making progress to not feel anxious. Easier said then done. I had a rough day of not wanting to do much of anything on Tuesday. I just laid on the couch for most of the day. I didn't get any where on my goals and it didn't help me that I didn't get out to run on Tuesday. I let myself just do nothing. I suppose most of the day I was worrying about getting our taxes back. If we'd owe money or get some back. Well, we did end up owing a little but we are getting some back too. It's not as bad or as good as I had hoped. I wasted an entire day on something that I could not change the outcome. So unproductive and definitely not moving forward in a good direction to do nothing.

 

I'm back on the road, running my three miles this morning and I feel so much calmer. I still have work to do. I have goals to accomplish and items on my todo list that I'm checking off one by one. I just have to stay focused and not get lazy about what I want to accomplish. Its so easy to say this is too hard, I don't feel like it today. It's self destructive thinking and I need to do something to make things happen. Good things will only come from putting in the effort. It's the kick I needed to get off my butt and just go! That's my thinking when I go for a run and it's my motivation to keep going. It just feels so much better to see the rewards of my accomplishments.

 

Steve gave me some beautiful flowers for Valentine's day and got the kids some candy. Steve's parents also gave us candy and the kids some cash. We are loaded with candy around the house. Its a bad temptation to have around.

Kendra sent me this picture of Evan and his Robot Valentine's gifts he is handing out at school to his friends. How cute is that! A robot made from pudding, juice boxes and candies.

Plus, Evan is a super cutie in his PJ's.

I snuck in a quick photo of Zoey. 14 months old... She got a new big baby stuffed animal from Steve's mom. She just loves her babies. I'll have to get a photo of her with her new toy. She was super funny this morning how she went to get her baby and take it outside with her and then brought it back inside with her. She would have made a great mom.

How we celebrate Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day 2017!!! I'm spending the day not working, and figuring out how I want to spend my day without anyone home. I do have plans this afternoon to pick up our completed taxes from the accountant. I'm hoping its good news and we get a refund. I'll probably go to the chiropractor to get an adjustment since it's been awhile and my body aches.

 

I did clean up our house a bit too this morning. I have yet to go run. I need to do that but I'm being lazy and putting it off right now.

Dinner tonight, I'm making heart shaped waffles and crepes with raspberry jam. We have some maple sausage eat too. Steve and Celina have their tenderloin steaks to eat. That's about it for the day. I might even go to the library and get myself some new books to read.

I gave everyone candies for V-day. Keeping it simple! I don't really do cards.

Over Five Years or to be exact 269 weeks!

I've been working out regularly for 269 weeks which means its been a little over five years now. I lost almost fifty pounds and didn't keep it all off. I don't have to start all over from scratch, but I do have to go back to my diet on what did work to shed weight fast. I'm not a slow dieter that will be able to take off the pounds. I have to drop weight quick. I kept most of the weight off for three years, but slowly my body wants to gain it all back. It could be age but a lot has to do with food choices. I've been trying to do the sensible approach to just making good food choices for most of my meal, which I do. I still have major slip up every day. I do love my sugar but that doesn't love me back. I can't keep doing the same old every day and expect to feel good. It's time to get serious! Stop the self destructive behaviors and get to work. Even if that means it's going to be tough! I'm up for the challenge!

We had an early Valentine's day family dinner last night. We made pizza's and some chocolate molten cakes. I made some hearts out of Almond bark to put on top of the cakes.

 

I over baked the cakes and they weren't molten inside. I was a bit disappointed but it did prevent me from eating the whole cake.

 

Family pizza

 

I finally got to see my favorite little person. Oh how I missed Evan. It was good to give him lots of kisses along with his Valentine's candies and gift.

 

He loves Star Wars and I found Logan's old light savor. He was trying to pop bubbles with the light savor.

 We are back to a Monday. A busy work day! I'm off to run and then I'll be heading out to work for a few hours. I need to finish up my stair rail painting in our entry. Steve painted the entry side since he had to climb up on the ladder to do that part. I'll just  be painting the side I can reach from upstairs. We didn't get any new base trim installed upstairs since Steve was working all morning on Saturday. Well, maybe next weekend?

 I also want to try selling some of our things we no longer use. I just need to take a few photos and post them on line.

I was reminded once again that I need to get some paper work in order. I have to update my will. I still have my Ex on the will getting everything should I die. Which would be awful to not have the house and my money go to Steve and all three of my children. I never changed the beneficiaries on my 401K. I still have my sister getting all. I can't have that! So off to take care of these two very important documents this week!

Happy Monday!

Weekend warm up run

It's not the warm up where I'm in a tank top in February running around the neighborhood, but I'll take the 30's and 40's. I was out for my morning run alone. Celina didn't join me for my three miles. She definitely out runs my easy pace and makes me pick up my pace. My feet are feeling good so I am sticking with three miles for now and in a few weeks, I'll add on more miles slowly. I'm trying to prevent the foot burn I felt all last spring and into summer.

 

After my run for the last two days in a row, I've been making a big bowl of fruit for myself. I've been craving bananas and strawberries. Since we picked up blueberries and raspberries for $2 each carton, I added those the mix too. Delicious after running treat!

It's hard to tell from this photo of the railing, but I painted it all white. Two coats of primer and today, I'm putting on the enamel which will need two to three coats of paint. I can't reach the other side on the bottom so I'm having Steve get the ladder and paint the other side for me since I hate heights!

The kids wanted Mexican food last night. We went to our favorite place, Cancun Fiesta. Logan and I shared the chicken fajita. We kind of over did the chips and salsa, so we didn't feel very hungry when our meal arrived.

We did a little shopping to get food for tonight's Sunday family dinner on Saturday afternoon. Other then paining and shopping, I did manage to get a little nap in with Zoey. She has many places she finds to nap.

When she isn't napping, Zoey is running from door to door.

I'm off to finish painting, then to Logan's indoor soccer game. I'll be doing some pizza dough making and baking some chocolate molten lava cakes for tonight's dinner. Plus, clean our house. Not too much to do in a short amount of time.

Oh the Weekend!!!

It's the weekend. Friday night was kind of dull. I did find myself cooking dinner. I attempted to make Beef Tenderloin filet for myself and Logan cooked his own. I told him, you don't want a non-cooker messing up your steak. I burnt the seasoning on the outside but it still tasted great after I scraped it off. I watched Bobby Flay make steaks with butter. I attempted to do this too with some fresh cut garlic which got all burnt up.

 

 

I even tried to roast some veggies, sweet potatoes and parsnips in the oven. I sprinkled them with pepper, salt and fresh cut rosemary. They could have used a little olive oil but I was trying to make them oil free.

 

Cooking dinner was about all I did on Friday night. I did catch up on all the politics in the news. I am addicted to seeing what Dump is up to. I just don't understand why anyone would vote for him and keep supporting #45. Ugh!!!!

 

 

Celina and I went out for a three mile run around the neighborhood Saturday morning. I wanted to do my yoga and get in my daily planks/weights before running as always. I was planning on doing three loops to get in 4.5 miles. Celina runs a lot faster then I do on my easy runs. I was just trying to keep up to her 9:45 or faster pace. Lets just say, speed was enough for the day and I didn't do one more loop. I probably could have doing the run/walk to get in another 1.5 miles but I was DONE.

 

The last of the railing to paint white. Bye, bye oak wood. Steve also needs to finish painting the wall in the patched spot. I'm making him install our new wide white trim up stairs in the hall. I'm hoping he has time to do our bedroom too. I'm ready for all these home projects to be completed.

 

After the primer goes on the entry rails, I've got to spray paint the door handles to our office and scrape off the paint. I'm thinking of spraying the handles silver. We don't have silver any where else in the house, mostly rubbed bronze. Off to paint!

 

Looking for the postives!

 

What can you do but to look for the Positives in any situation. I eat healthy for Breakfast and lunch with a healthy choice snack. I even try to eat lots of veggies with dinner. I call that a success even if I eat ice cream after dinner or have a slice of cake. Maybe I do indulge a little too much when we go out to eat, with fried foods. I concentrate on the meals and food that I made a good choice with and not get too down on the poor choices. I know the poor choice foods are not helping me reach my weight loss goals. Its all about calories in at this point. Far too many to lose weight! I've got a daily goal of staying between 1000- 1800 calories for the day. A few days a week I go way beyond that goal. I need to keep at it and sooner or later I'll make the changes I need to drop some pounds.

 

 

I had to bundle up this morning for my run. Just a quick 31 minutes of running a little over three miles. It was only around 21*F when I went for my run but now it's close to the high of 50+F for the day. Bring on the warmer weather!

I didn't get out for a run or go to the gym on Thursday. I ended up sitting a lot but I had to finish up our taxes. Which reminds me, I completely forgot about the account appointment today at 1pm. UGH!!!!!! Just rescheduled it for a little later on Friday. Lets keep our fingers crossed we will be due for a refund!

Trying not to get discouraged

It's a fitness game of a few steps forward and a few back again. Kind of feels like Ground hogs day, doing the same thing day after day and then realizing, you never got any where.

I've been going back to the gym after a couple of years break from the people and just being stuck inside working out. I'd much rather run or bike outside then be inside doing my workout in the same spot. Plus, I needed a break from the people that are the regulars at the gym. It was feeling more like going to work, then a fun place to be and get in my workout. I'm back to the gym, but I go at a different time then the morning where I'd see all the regulars. I like just going and doing my workout then leaving. It's me time and my time to read, zone out in my workout or watch TV and read magazines.

I lost a lot of gym fitness since I stopped going. I might have gained outside strength, but that doesn't transfer to the gym and what I use to be able to do as my workouts. I'm starting back up slowly. I want to enjoy going and I don't want to discourage myself by focusing on what I use to be able to do.

 

 

It's been a struggle to maintain and then to gain weight after all my efforts at workout. I know most of my issues are with food and I need to get back to doing a lot more about my diet. I'm working on a transformation to get back to healthy eating. It has not been perfect or even close to that. I do a lot of regressing back to bad habits. I'm still trying and will not give up. I just need to work harder on figuring out what I need to do to keep myself on the healthy choices eating track.

Going back to the gym was tough. Its difficult to start and then stop at anything. Its easier to just keep going. I have to make an effort to still get my workout in outside and make it to the gym to lift weights. I have a goal to regain all the muscles I lost from being gone a few years from my daily gym workout.

I have added in yoga two times a day. It helps with my sore muscles and relaxing after a busy work filled day. Plus, it gives me something to focus on and try to regroup my efforts into healthy eating.

I realized that I have a plan for afternoon lunches, and snacks but not for dinner or after dinner snacks. I want to start eating more veggies. The only way to do that is to allow myself some dip with those veggies because carrot sticks or cauliflower on their own does not sound super appealing to me. Lets see if this change works because reaching for bread, cookies, cake just isn't working to get me to drop some pounds.

I have one more day left to finish up my taxes and they will be done! I have plans to get back to painting the trim around our house and finishing up those home projects we started back in October.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again! Never give up.

A Fun Filled Tuesday!

Steve and I both had the day off from working. I actually did go to work and had a schedule change. It was okay because we had time to do something fun instead. We went to Como Zoo and it wasn't busy at all. We got there after lunch, which was perfect because all the animals were moving around and eating. Usually you go and watch a bunch of animals sleeping. Our main goal was to just soak in some green and soak up the warm air around us. It worked because it felt great. I just pretended we were in Florida minus the ocean.  

My cell phone, which I use for all my pictures won't work more then a few seconds. It crashes and goes to Zero for battery life. Its fully charged when I take pictures but quickly loses all power and that's it. I only was able to take three pictures.

I was pretty tired after the Zoo. Came home and took my hour long nap. Or at least tried to nap.  I got zero done on our taxes and never went out for a run. In my defense, it was freezing rain making the roads a skating rink. I'm heading to the gym this afternoon to bike instead of run due to the roads and still having icy spots

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