Talkin' about Weight on Wednesday

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 176
% lost overall: 18.13%
Sunday was my first run since my failed test run on January 3. I did 3 half-mile stretches with quarter-mile walks in between to assess how my ankle was doing. And it did GREAT! I am heeled! And Tuesday's run was just as great! I am so proud of myself for giving it a full 3 weeks off. I am not even disappointed that I probably could not run 3 straight miles right now. While I was laid up, I spent some time reading John "The Penguin" Bingham's archives and found a really helpful passage in his Running Tips series where he is talking about Chutes and Ladders:

"But, then you hit one of the Chutes. Your mileage cuts back. You miss a workout or two and have to start a few days back. Just remember that the cycle of success is normal. Going backwards is just as important as going forward."

I also reflected upon PastaQueen's post about loose skin. She raises the same issues that I have with the possibility of plastic surgery. (This is all assuming that I win the lottery or get famous like Kate of John and Kate Plus 8 and someone offers to give me a free tummy tuck.) Months of not being able to exercise? Seems like it would be a HUGE setback that directly counteracts the reason you GOT the procedure done! Yes, it's only a few months and as I was just saying earlier that you move back a few steps and start all over again. But for vanity, would I really give up the strength I have now and have to start all over? Just like PastaQueen, I'm not sure. My arms? That's a different story! If someone wanted to give me an arm lift for free, I would take it today! To be able to wear a bathing suit, sleeveless dress or tank top without worrying about my arms, that would be a dream come true!

I used the TrueStretch apparatus at the gym for the first time! It is really quite awesome. I was all alone in the stretching room and decided to give it a go after my run as my back was kind of hinky from the night before. It was delightful and has really nice graphics on the back that tell you exactly where to grab to stretch the muscles you want.

None for me, thanks. UPDATED

UPDATE January 29, 2012
My mom reminded me of this post when I mentioned that I eat greek yogurt at least once a day now. Just two years ago, I wasn't a big fan! I don't eat any sweetened yogurt (like Light and Fit) anymore, greek yogurt has SO MUCH more protein! And I even make my OWN greek yogurt now! I do eat nutritional yeast, it's a key ingredient in my beloved homemade seitan sausages. So what else has changed? I still don't like green smoothies and I'll still pass on powdered peanut butter, it seems kind of pricey for pretty tasteless powder, but I wouldn't pass it up if someone sent me some for free!

****original post from January 26, 2010
I am very adventurous, I'm always up for something new! So I'll give anything a try. But there are some things I have tried in the past couple of years, things that other people RAVE about, that I just didn't like. I read a slew of healthy food/fitness blogs and that's where most of my new ideas for food come from.
#1 Greek Yogurt- I'm sorry, I have tried to like it. But it makes me choke. It's SO thick and even pasty at times. I like my yogurt nice and smooth, almost pourable. Dannon Light and Fit for me, all the way! The Fit Bottomed Girls wax rhapsodic about it regularly and KERF eats the stuff constantly, but I am not a fan. Nearly all the comments on this Cranky Fitness post about yogurt were how much everyone loves the stuff!
#2 Green smoothies-The darling of the fit/running world. I tried it. I tried it a couple of times. It's ok, but not something I would seek out to drink every morning. Certainly not something I would create a website about. I love Oh She Glows, but I do not love green monsters.

#3 Nutritional yeast flakes- Nope, sorry VeganDad, these do NOT taste like cheese. Nor does a concoction of cashews, nutritional yeast, pimentos and a whole bunch of other stuff that's NOT cheese. I have tried sprinkling these on a wide array of things and I'm just NOT into them, even though I could really use the iron and b-vitamins. It is nasty on a baked potato, nasty on popcorn, nasty on vegetables, nasty on bread. Nasty with a fox, nasty in a box.

#4 Powdered peanut butter (aka defatted peanut flour)-iateapie seemed to like it. (But then, she also rated Kashi Go Lean Crunch 5 out of 5 and I think that stuff tastes like dirt and chaff.) So I ordered a sampler. Ew. Yes, it's lower in calories and fat than peanut butter from a jar. But ew, it TASTES like it!

I'm not mentioning these things to knock the people who love them. They are healthy things, things to be proud of liking. But if you, like me, DON'T like them, do not be ashamed! There is no shame in hating Greek yogurt!

Pampered Pooches Quilt

I hadn't posted an updated picture of my Pampered Pooches quilt (the very first quilt I'm making to keep for myself!) so here it is with all the borders, the top is done!Look who else is making one too! Swooze! I haven't worked on mine since October (you know, before all the Christmas projects took over) so she has revitalized my interest in it! I need to choose a backing fabric for it.

Some fitness giveaways

Do you like to win things? I entered a couple of fitness giveaways and thought I'd let you know about them too!

Biggest Loser prize pack at Wisconsin Mommy

New Balance shoes at MizFit

Denise's Daily Dozen book at Growing a Baby in Seattle

And also at MommyPR

52 to Fabulous

I have been getting the 52 to Fabulous emails this year and so far they are great suggestions if you are just starting to evaluate your life and goals but mainly they are questions I have already asked myself. This week's task is to make a Vision Board. I made one of these last year for my 2009 goals so I thought I'd show you.The words may be hard to read, you can see it better if you click the picture to enlarge it. My goals were: Get up earlier, Walk the dog once a day, Remember birthdays, Exercise, Re-caulk the bathrooms, Read more books, Bake for librarians/police/fire department, Brush my teeth every day, Enjoy a vacation away (which is hard for me, I love to be at home), Plant more flowers and veggies that I eat, Make 2 quilts and Do a Christmas letter. I also added a quote that I like:

Lost, between sunrise and sunset,
One glden hour, set with sixty diamond minutes.
No reward is offered, for it is gone forever.

I achieved most of these goals, but as you can see ("exercise") some of them were nebulous and not really well-defined. This year I think my goals are more pin-point and attainable, yet still challenging. And this year's quote is:

Count that day lost whose low, descending sun
views from thy hand no worthy action done.

Mid-January goal update

It's time for a mid-month check-up of my 2010 goals.

1. Complete the St. Jude’s relay and donate at least $300.

I have $175 already from ebay auctions and misc. projects!

2. Keep track of all miles I run in 2010.

So far, only 1 mile! I am on the mend though, my ankle went through Zumba class last night and isn't hurting at all today so Saturday is the day I give it another trial mile and see how it goes!

3. Donate 10 quilts/blankets to Project Linus.

I have 4 NICU blankets cut out. My Boo-Boo Kids challenge quilt will be 5 and Mike has graciously said I could count his two fringed fleece blankets in my total since I cut the fringe for him. So that's 7 already!

4. Pay off our credit card.

Mike and I (mainly Mike)have devised a plan involving our tax return!

5. Earn the Silver Award in the President’s challenge.

I am 52% of the way there. But at the beginning of the year I was at around 50% so it's slow going. 45,000 points is a lot of physical fitness!

6. Enter 10 or more items in the county fair.

Today I am ordering the thread for my doily. No one seems to have a great color selection around here so I had to go online.

7. Try something new like tap dancing, water aerobics or herding.

I have been investigating either adult beginner ballet or gynmastics. So far, gymnastics is a bust, no one offers adult beginner classes! What about my dream of doing a cartwheel?? Ballet has more options, 4 studios offer adult classes for absolute beginners but they are quite pricey and three of them are at least a 3 month commitment. The shorter, 2-month session is at a fairly strict studio where I'd have to observe a dress code, wear a bun and, frankly, it scares me a little!

8. Grow only things I eat in the garden and eat what I grow.

Too early but I plan on not planting as many kale seeds this year!

9. Visit family more often and remember to send birthday cards.

Eep, need to get on this!

10. Add I deep cleaning task each week to my cleaning schedule.

This weekend, me & the vacuum shall dance!

Quilt block completion!

This is a sampling of my blocks for the Holly Jolly Block Swap. 12 nine-patches and 12 theme blocks done! Once I laid them out this way, I kind of fell in love with just the presents! But I know I'll be getting some other fun blocks from everyone else so I am only a little sad to be sending them away. I know Aunt Pitty Pat will take good care of them!

A friend at work loaned me this monstrosity.I'm only calling it names because I tried to thread it this morning! I have not used a serger since high school so it will hopefully be like riding a bicycle! I am using it to make NICU blankies for Project Linus, which are fleece but must have a serged edge. Wish me luck!

Goals for Sully

In May, Sully will turn 7 years old. In both APDT and AKC he will be considered a veteran! I'll most likely not be entering him in any veteran classes (except maybe the Veteran Obedience class at the Lakeshore Specialty, if we go this year) but it's a good option to have from now on.

In all my goal setting for this year, I neglected to include dog training goals! After reading this post about goals on Deb's Dog Blog I decided to set some goals so my training doesn't wander aimlessly like it did for the last portion of 2009. My goals are not quite as grand as hers, though. (VST and MXJ titles!)

Goal: APDT RL3 title

I've signed us up for the spring semester Competition Rally class at the club which covers Level 3 and Excellent exercises. Directed jumping and hitting that six-foot line on the send over jump will be our main focus. My short term goal will be to schedule training sessions for rally/obedience at LEAST twice a week.

Goal: CDX title

This may be a lofty goal, simply because we don't go to that many AKC shows each year. I've signed us up for spring semester of Open Obedience at the club. He can do all the exercises, we mainly need a lot of group exercise practice. And we need to put in some hours cleaning up our heeling.

Goal: Run a certification track

I will be shooting for tracking practice at LEAST once every two weeks. We got out there in the snow today after a liberal application of Paw Wax and Sully was up for a good 45 minutes of tracking (and playing) in the snow! During our short warm-up track he took some time out to rub his face in the snow and roll around on his back Corgi-style. I let him have some fun but then got on his case to "get back to work" and he simmered down, crossed the sidewalk in front of him and made it to the glove with only a few dirty looks at me. :)

**Both pictures in this post are fro today's snow fun! I was trying to get a nice picture and all Sully could think about was getting back out there in the snow!

Goal: Attempt herding

I haven't decided on a training facility yet but I think this year is the year Sully sees sheep for the first time!

Ravelry update

I got a wild hare and decided to upload all my recent knitting and crochet projects to Ravelry. And while I was doing that, I thought I might as well add all my yarn stash! Now I can just check out the webpage where ever I am and know what I have and what I need (always need more yarn!). I even put up my unfinished objects like my probably-never-to-be-completed sock:
And my ill-fated mesh yoga mat bag that I can't even remember what pattern I was using or where I am in it!Oh, those poor, neglected projects! Check them all out here (but you'll have to be logged into you Ravelry account).

New CorgiTest review blog!

I have posted my very first review and giveaway post over at the CorgiTest section of the blog. Click here to read my review and enter the giveaway for Progresso soup.

2010 Goals

Yesterday was my first real workout since my foot fiasco. This is what my foot looked like a few days after spraining it.
It looks much better now and held up well to a 45 minute Pure Energy class and a mile-long test run. Today it feels a tiny bit achy but at least not any sharp pain. I think it's ready to start tackling my 2010 Goals!

I am not so much into setting grand, sweeping New Year's Resolutions as I am about setting smaller, manageable goals. Goals should be SMART.
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely

My 10 Objectives for 2010 are:
1. Complete the St. Jude’s relay and donate at least $300.
2. Keep track of all miles I run in 2010.
3. Donate 10 quilts/blankets to Project Linus.
4. Pay off our credit card.
5. Earn the Silver Award in the President’s challenge.
6. Enter 10 or more items in the county fair.
7. Try something new like tap dancing, water aerobics or herding.
8. Grow only things I eat in the garden and eat what I grow.
9. Visit family more often and remember to send birthday cards.
10. Add I deep cleaning task each week to my cleaning schedule.

This year, I've also chosen weekly challenges to make sure I am active and vibrant all year! Each weekly goal alternates between three categories: Try Something New, Healthy Habits, and Reconnect (with family and friends). Some of them include:
Eat all meals at the table this week
Go to bed by 10 every night this week
Give out at least one compliment each day this week
Jump rope three times this week
Kiss your spouse and really mean it at least once a day
Do your hair in 4 different ways this week
Donate blood
Bring a healthy treat to work
Eat zero processed foods this week (Yum, that week I'll be eating a lot of meals like this one!)

They are just little things to perk up the week and make life more interesting!

Valentine Card Swap

Myspace CommentsJust like last year, I am again hosting a Valentine Card Swap. We will be sending out ten of those little classroom valentines, one to each member of your "class" (your 10-person swapping group). I love little Valentines! You can sign up here if you do too!
New Year's Graphics

2010 Goal Review

2010 Goals End-of-Year Review

1. DONE Complete the St. Jude’s relay and donate at least $300.

2. DONE Keep track of all miles I run in 2010.

Total to 2010: 395.5 miles! My goal was one for each day of the year and I achieved that in November!

3. Donate 10 quilts/blankets to Project Linus.

4. Pay off our credit card.

We got the original amount paid off, then got the roof fixed so now we have a new goal for 2011.

5. DONE Earn the Silver Award in the President’s challenge.
DONE (4/29/2010)! I am 78% of the way to my Gold award!

6. DONE Enter 10 or more items in the county fair.
DONE! total of 17 entries!

7. Try something new like tap dancing, water aerobics or herding.

DONE:Got certified in CPR/First Aid (July), learned to do a cartwheel, took herding lessons with Sully (April, May), tried water aerobics (January), adult beginning ballet (August-November)

8. Grow only things I eat in the garden and eat what I grow.

Planted: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, leek, kohlrabi, lettuce, spinach, beets, snow peas, carrots, radishes, cucumber, edamame, zucchini, yellow summer squash.

Ate: carrots, spinach, radishes, spinach, lettuce, snow peas, yellow squash, cucumbers, blackberries, raspberries, basil, chives, thyme

9. Visit family more often and remember to send birthday cards.

This one will be #1 on 2011's list! I didn't do so well.

10. Add I deep cleaning task each week to my cleaning schedule.

Another one that will get moved up on the list for the new year. I have my 2011 planner and will add a task to it in PEN for each week!