I Am Pooped

This is most definitely great snowman weather. The snow that we recently recieved is sticky and wet! Perfect for building snowmen. That snowman up there was one our neighbor threw together pretty quick yesterday. After picking up Fiona from school we walked down to the front of their yard and snapped that picture.

I shoveled our driveway twice yesterday. It was great #1 because of the upper body working out and #2 it was only in the 30’s so no coat was required. I could wear a t-shirt, sweatshirts, jeans and some boots, and maybe some gloves too. That was it! The wind was not blowing and it wasn’t horribly chilly. I Loved It!

I know we have been without sun A LOT this winter but I’m starting to believe it’s because God knew we would have A LOT of snow this year. Do you know how bright it would be outside if the sun was always out? I don’t know about you but I can’t take the reflection from the sun bouncing off snow that refuses to melt. lol :)

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I WILL LIFT MY EYES
By Bebo Norman

God, my God, I cry out
Your beloved needs You now
God, be near calm my fear and take my doubt
Your kindness is what pulls me up
Your love is all that draws me in

I will lift my eyes to the Maker
of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

God, my God, let mercy sing
her melody over me
and God, right here all I bring
is all of me
Your kindness is what pulls me up
Your love is all that draws me in

I will lift my eyes to the Maker
of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

‘Cause You are and You were and You will be forever
the Lover I need to save me
‘Cause You fashioned the earth and You hold it together, God
so hold me now

I will lift my eyes to the Maker
of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

God, my God, I cry out
Your beloved needs You now

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I have worked out a total of 4 times since last Wed. Three times were spent at the gym and one time was spent working out at home.

I’m pretty sure my scale is about to dip into the 170’s. I just need to kick it up a notch. I need to add something to the mix and turn it into a game in order to challenge myself.

Everything is getting easier and my endurance is lasting longer. I am becoming stronger. I am able to do more push ups, abdominal exercises, and can run further than normal.

No matter what my workout schedule is at the gym I think I’m going to try running a mile on the treadmill here at the house every time I leave the house to go somewhere excluding trips to school or to the gym.

For Example:

Tonight I am going to church for Cubbies & Sparkies = 1 Mile

Tomorrow I am going out for a play date = 1 Mile

It will be good for me to blog it, write it down OR both.

As soon as my scale dips between 175 – 179 I will let y’all know!!!

Wish Me Luck!!! Pray For Me!!! Tell Me I Can Do It!!! Encourage Me!!!

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I believe there are “God Moments” and we should open ourselves up to them. I think it’s important to listen and look for God’s hints and especially in the most unlikely places. You know those moments in time when you find yourself feeling awkward, unloved, distracted, and/or overly emotional? That’s when scaling back on those “feelings” and opening yourself up to what God is trying to tell you can totally take over. Something like that happened to me over the weekend.

Last Friday night I met up with a friend of mine at a Women’s Conference at church. She invited me to sit with her at the table she would be sharing with her Mom’s Group. We just assumed it would be alright and didn’t even picture that there might not be any room for one more person. So when we got there we figured out real quick there was no room for me. But, that’s ok! No really, it’s totally fine.

These are the types of situations where I look to see if there is something God is trying to tell me. Even though my friend and I agreed to meet and try to sit together at church, God sometimes has other things in mind. I truly believe that.

Sometimes when the plan doesn’t always go our way or how we think it should go, it’s a good idea to stop and ask ourselves, “Ok, what is God trying to say to me?” Sit quietly and survey the area, access the situation, and find out what it is God wants you to do. That’s kind of what I did when we figured out there was no room for me at the table. Instead of throwing myself into a state of panic I scanned the room to see what I could see.

Next to my friend’s table there was another table where another friend was sitting. The seat next to my other friend was empty. Later on that night I found out that she didn’t really know why she had her purse holding that spot. It just worked out that she put her purse down on the empty seat next to her even though she wasn’t really waiting on anybody to sit there.

I know exactly why she had her purse on that empty spot. It was the same reason the other table didn’t have room for me. God wanted me to sit by her. You see, she is experiencing some of the same type of struggles I am with regard to our teenagers.  I believe God wanted us to sit by each other so we could comfort and console one another.

Sometimes our plans are not always His plans for us. Sometimes God wants to comfort us in ways we couldn’t possibly understand. So next time your day isn’t going how you thought it was going to go – think about what God is trying to say to you. His Way Rocks!

I think I’m starting to get the hang of this weekly blog meme. This week I need to remember to check out some of the other blogs that participate. Maybe I will have some time for that tonight once the kiddos are asleep.

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Taylor Swift won Album of the Year last night. I was excited and happy for her that she won and was nominated so many times. Her performance with Stevie Nicks was interesting. Mixing up the old with the new was fun.

Taylor Swift is a talented young artist who actually seems to care about her craft and winning these sort of awards. Her music is pretty clean and so is her image. I hope it stays that way for years to come.

Eat your heart out Kanye West. Let it resonate and then maybe you’ll think twice before you go and snatch the microphone out of somebody’s hand when they are standing on a stage about to accept an award. (MTV)

I didn’t have my 3-D glasses so it was kind of difficult to appreciate the details of the Michael Jackson tribute. His children were adorable.

I had to stop and hold my breath for Pink because I thought she was going to fall. That girl has some strong abs! I don’t know how anyone can perform like that way up high above the crowd. I wonder who got wet from the water splashing around?

Overall I thought the Grammys were a bit boring. I didn’t watch the entire show. I kept flipping the channels back and forth between the Grammys, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and Guiliana and Bill Rancic on E. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a reality TV junkie.

Congratulations Taylor Swift on your album of the year win! You Go Girl! Keep up the good work and stay good, ok? (As if she would ever read this! lol)

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So far I have no idea what to think of today. I am only almost half the way through it and can’t decide where the slight funky feeling is coming from? It almost seems like I can’t say or do anything right.

I got almost everything done on my short list yesterday.

The Sam’s Club Shopping – Done! The snacks for Fiona’s classroom were turned in. The snacks for Cubbie’s will have to wait until next Wednesday. Did you know there are some snack items that ware put together in manufacturing plants where peanut products are made? Even if the snack didn’t have peanut products in the actual snack itself they still have to place some sort of warning on the label letting people know that. I didn’t even entertain those snack ideas.

I did find a bathing suit for $21.00 – can you believe it? Most years when I find a bathing suit I’m lucky if I can find one on sale for $80.00 let alone $20.00 – Now my bathing suit from last season is in great shape and just fine – but still – the one I found was $21.00 – you kind of have to jump on that when those super cool deals pop up. I also found a cover up for $13.00 – WOOT! I guess this means I’ll get to do some hot tubbing in style when we leave for Las Vegas!

The Housework – I got all of the laundry caught up. No more laundry until Sunday or Monday give or take! The bedrooms are picked up and the floors upstairs are totally vacuumed. Christmas is practically finished and packed up ready and waiting to be put in storage in the unfinished part of our basement. It seems I need to find one more empty bin to make room for some extras. No biggie.

The Gym – The gym was awesome! The gym is always awesome! I know this because slowly I am whittling away everything on my body that needs to Go! I would share my routine except that I don’t really know how to describe it. Let’s just say I did a 5 minute warm-up on the elliptical, picked out 4 stations in the weight area to workout on. I did 3 sets on each station and in between each set I did 1 set of stairs and a lap. Afterward we walked a few laps fast and then hit it with a total ab workout to finish it all up. I think our trainer was very happy to see us. I think maybe she was thinking she worked us so hard we might disappear for three or four days. No Way! I have to keep going!

Even though I can’t really make it to the gym this afternoon I’m still going to hop on our treadmill here at the house and try to walk/run at least 3 miles. Today is kind of a different day. Don will pick Fiona up from school because he only has to work a half day. Plus he promised Fiona he would pick her up. She has come to expect it on Fridays. Sweetie Pie.

Don has physical therapy to go to this afternoon. When he finishes up with that he will come straight home and then I will hit my church up for a Women’s event. I’m looking forward to that. Can’t wait to see what that one will be all about. Maybe I will take some notes and share them with you guys. It’s really going to depend on what kind of mood I’m in because so far this day is really very weird to me. I haven’t put my finger on why exactly. Do you ever have days like that?

I did keep my promise to stay off the computer. I was so tired last night I didn’t even play my spider solitaire game that I love to play while watching TV after the kids are in bed. I think I crashed out to the housewives of orange county on bravo. I didn’t sleep all that well either. I woke up at 3 o’clock and then I woke up again at 5:30 am. THAT sucked! I guess I’m not the only one that had trouble sleeping last night.

Does anybody out there want to join my blog community? – That might cheer me up and lift me up a little wee bit. What do you think? If you blog and have a blog I hope you will consider it. We need more contributors too. I don’t like writing by myself. It’s just not as much fun as it would be if more people wrote together.. ya know?

I’ll catch you guys later. I’m turning off my computer now until I get everything I need to get done completed. I keep my list extra short so I don’t disappoint.

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I have a short list of things that I must get done today! I believe if I post it – I will have to do it. It will be the swift kick in the pants I need. It will be the fire being lit under my butt to MOVE IT! There are no excuses! Not just part of the list – all of the list! I will try and keep it short, sweet and straight to the point. I will hit the preview button, the publish button and will take my happy butt out of this chair to GET IT DONE.

• Sam’s Club – I need to get my Sam’s Club shopping done today! It’s a must. I need to pick up snacks for the kids at church and snacks for the kids in Fiona’s kindergarten class. These programs rely on donations in order to keep it going. I have to remind myself that there are kiddos with allergies so I make good snack choices.

• The House – I need to get the laundry caught up! I need to run the vacuum. I need to put the last of the Christmas Boxes back in storage. (Yeah, I know – pretty pathetic that I still have a few Christmas items out. I just have to laugh.)

• The Gym – I need to get to the gym after I pick Fiona up from school. I worked out Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, rested on Wednesday and now it’s time to hit it again! We had a great workout w/our trainer, I’m sore and I need to grab these muscles and work on molding them or I am never going to see some decent changes in my over all body shape and appearance.

THAT IS IT! It’s not just that I NEED to get these things done – I MUST DO IT! I WILL DO IT! Ok, so now I’m going to hit the publish button and get it all done. I will NOT check my Facebook or my e-mail and I will not sneak a peak to see what my other favorite bloggers  have posted. I will save the rest of THAT for tonight and/or AFTER I get my list tackled. Ha!

What did you think of the President’s State of the Union Speech? – Leave your comment about THAT over there, will ya? I’d like to know what your thoughts and opinions are about all of it!

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The last time I wrote up a Weigh In Wed It was Bad. This time it’s not that bad. This time it’s actually pretty good. I am finding my groove again and this time I’m actually sticking to it. I’m to the point where I can’t wait to go to the gym and get my fitness on!

Last week when I stepped on the scale for my yearly girlie exam I had to weigh in. Of course I had all my clothes on along with my heavy black boots. I’m pretty sure the number that rang up was off by about 6 lbs.

Yesterday when I stepped on the scale at the gym I had my workout clothes on along with my big ol’ running shoes. I’m pretty sure that number was off about 3 lbs give or take. What does this mean for me? It’s actually pretty significant. I think it means I’m about to dip down into the 170’s instead of being stuck in the 180’s.

My muscles are so sore. The trainer is really working us good. I think now that we’ve signed up for 12 more weeks she has taken us deeper into the routine. Every single time we get together with her it is different so I know all of our muscles are being worked and re-shaped. That’s Excellent!

When I run laps in between sets it’s not as hard for me. I actually feel a lot lighter on my feet and can get around the track much faster than I did before. When she tells us to run two laps I don’t hyperventilate like I used to. Two laps is really not that bad. I think if she told us to run three laps I wouldn’t throw myself into fear. I would actually be able to do it, no problem, as long as I jogged at a reasonable pace.

Everything is getting easier to do. Don’t get me wrong – it’s all still very hard. It’s just that now I can actually finish up the sets no matter how bad it burns. Before when we would work on our core with all the various crunches and sit ups she would have us do – I might be able to get through one count of 5, but now I can actually do the full set and go onto the next. Yes it burns but I just tell myself, “It’s not going to kill you Angela.”

Now it’s a quest to see what she will have us do next. How far will she push us? What difference will it make? How much longer before the numbers start to drop and they continue to drop at a more steady pace. I’m sure it will all depend on me.

I have to keep going to the gym. Make up routines to do when I’m not training. Continue to push myself and keep doing the things that I can’t stand. Crunches, Push-Ups, and Stairs are the worst. I know those are the things I need to keep doing since they are the ones that I loathe the most.

Yesterday the kids wanted McDonald’s and so did Don. I ordered what everybody else wanted and then I decided to get the Bacon Ranch Salad with Grilled Chicken. It was Good! I still slip up every once in awhile. Take for example today – I had a pop tart. Those are SO BAD for you. But, I didn’t beat myself up over it.

To sum things up: I’m getting stronger, my endurance is getting longer, I am constantly being challenged, I’m getting to the gym a lot more than I used to, my clothes are feeling different, I feel different, I’m sore as heck, but mostly – I’m feeling Good.

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