Walking in the Rain

Last week was a bad week and I'm not sure what this week will bring. All I knew was when I woke up this morning I HAD to go for a walk. Last Monday I was sick with the flu and had to cancel my workout with my trainer. Tuesday & Wednesday was spent helping the guys get ready for their fishing trip, and I gave up my workouts. Thursday was a day of confusion with an abrupt change of schedules on the guys part so I again cancelled my workout with my trainer. Friday is always a bad day for working out, it's just too long a day at work. Saturday was spent working out in the yard planting flower beds. (Now, that's a workout for the legs!) Sunday & Monday were MY days to goof off and spend the day as I pleased. I alternated between cleaning two houses, watching TV and starting a new book. It poured rain all day Monday and the Y was closed, so that was the excuse for not doing a workout.

So back to this morning, I woke up and HAD to walk. It was cloudy when Sam & I left but no sounds of rolling thunder. By the time we reached the pathway a light drizzle had started. But since I didn't hear any thunder we continued on. When we reached the road it was a steady rain but still comfortable and it felt good. It's 63 degrees, a little on the cool side but I was dressed for cool weather. I wasn't dressed for the rain and then about 1/3 of a mile out, the skies opened up. It still felt good but I knew I should turn back when my running partner, a Labrador, turned and looked at me, as if to say "are we going much farther in this?"

Visibility was getting lower, so Sam & I swung around and headed for home. We only got in maybe 3/4 of a mile. But it felt so good to stretch our legs. Plus they say rainwater is good for the complexion.

Have a nice day!

Oh Dear!

I think I'm becoming one of "them". You know, the ones who HAVE to do their workout. I've been working with a personal trainer for over 5 weeks now. On Mondays & Thursdays we meet and she & I do a different type of workout each time. We usually start with a warm up on some type of cardio machine for about 15 minutes. This gives her a chance to explain the machine to me, watch how I perform on it, and make any corrections that need to be made. Once we're warmed up then we spend the next 45 minutes doing various forms of strengthening drills. We may do weights one day and bosu ball drills the next. One day we spent the entire hour doing yoga. That was one tough workout! (And I LOVED it!) Then on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Saturdays I try to do at least an hour of some type of cardio workout on my own. I may use the elliptical, recumbent bike or take the dog for a 4 mile walk. It's fun because I'm learning so many different ways to do my workouts and no matter what type of mood I'm in there's a workout ready for me.

Last week's workout were pretty intense Sunday thru Thursday so I was more than happy to give myself a break on Friday. I was feeling a little guilty about taking Friday off but my daughter pointed out that I have to remember to give my body a rest and she was right. Saturday morning I felt wonderful! It dawned on my that I hadn't had to take any pain medication for 2 weeks.

Saturday was a busy day & I didn't get my workout in. Sunday was Mother's Day and was spend down at my in-laws, so no workout that day. Monday I had to work until 5:45 and then be at the church for construction work by 7pm so I skipped the workout. Tuesday, same story. By Tuesday night my legs were ACHING! I was so restless I was ready to jump out of my skin. Today at work my back started aching enough that I broke down and took some ibuprofen. So today even though I worked until 5:45 and had a meeting at 7, I still drove over to the Y and got on an elliptical machine and ran on it for 30 minutes. (Did 2 miles in 29 minutes.) Drove home, changed shirts and made it to the meeting at 7:02. Meeting lasted until 9:15 and then came home, showered, had toast and peanut butter and now I'm ready to crash. But I feel great! LOL!

Easter Surprise

At 9:45 on Easter Sunday morning, my husband told me that my son had just pulled into the driveway. My son's Easter greeting - "I thought we were going to church! It starts in 15 minutes!" I was just standing there grinning from ear to ear like a Halloween pumpkin. I had hinted two weeks ago that I would love it if he could come to church with us on Easter Sunday, but I knew better than to get my hopes up. I was so thrilled.

Until they have children of their own, my kids will not understand how much I pray for them each day. It's almost like a minute by minute thing. I cannot control what they do or what happens to them, but I find a lot of comfort asking God to keep an eye on them and to try to guide them. They're wonderful people and I know God has created them for awesome reasons. They're not old enough to see it yet, but when they go the way God wants them, their paths get easier. It doesn't mean that they have to take the well traveled road, it just means that walking with God helps them to be a stronger person. I pray that both of them find a person of strong faith and they will help each other become stronger.

I'm on week 3 with my personal trainer and it's really going better than I planned. I have learned that if I tell people (and myself) that I'll be late because I have to do my workout, the response is "can't you do that later? or shorten it?" If I say that I have to do my physical therapy the response is "ok, we'll see you when you get here." I've also learned that if I think of it as my physical therapy, I'm more apt to make the time. Right now it's easy to think of it as PT because I am noticing a difference when I do the workouts vs. skipping out.

The irony is right now I've reached the stage where I'm gaining weight instead of losing it. :P I know, I know, muscle weighs more than fat, but it's still discouraging to see the scales. And yeah, I know, you're supposed to stay away from the scales...but when you've tried to lose weight for as long as I have, the habit is there.

It's past my bedtime, so au revoir.

YAY!!! I did it!

Well, I officially broke the 200 pound mark today. Granted it's just one small dip below the dreaded number, but it was so nice to see that 199! Both Mike & one the cats had been stepping on and off the scales (or in Mike's case putting his toes on) and had me laughing because of the higher weights and then they both stepped back to get the true reading and we both stopped laughing and just looked at the scale. 199.6! Woo-hoo! That felt so good. Mike's been saying he can see a difference but I just pooh-poohed him. But now I feel good about it.

I've been trying to take the dog for a 1/2 hour walk every day since it's been warmer. (Yes, Katie, warmer means 30s & 40s.) and if the weather doesn't co-operate I've been hitting the elliptical at the Y or using the Wii Fit at home. Those yoga poses and strength building exercises really stretch out those muscles.

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day date last night. It's the first time in YEARS that we went out for the holiday. One of the new local caterers had a dinner/dance and it was wonderful. Everyone dressed up (guys in suits) and the food was good. The prime rib was so tender the guys didn't even need their knives. Then we had the entertainment. Jim Holland and Sarah Holt. Jim did a Frank Sinatra style show and I surprised myself by knowing most of the songs. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since he was one of Dad's favorites, but oh it brought back soooo many good memories. Thank you Jim. He even seranaded me with Dean Martin's "Amore" just before I walked out the door. LOL! (I had told him that was the only song I thought he might sneak in but he didn't.) Sarah's voice was beautiful and they made a great pair.

When the owner got up and asked if everyone would be interested in doing something like this again, she was greeted with a LOUD YES!!!! So we'll have to stay tune.

Ah, the cold

It's currently 9 degrees out and it's supposed to get colder tonight. There's a strong, steady wind blowing so you also have to worry about the wind chill factor if you're going to be outside for any length of time. My son will be patrolling outside in this lovely weather tonight. Thank goodness he inherited my love of different weather. This cold weather is dangerous but it's also so invigorating. The cold makes everything crisp and clear. The stars tonight are so shiny and bright. All the clouds and smog are blown away to leave a clear view of the heavens. It's awesome!

This cold weather also makes me thankful. I thank God that I have a warm home, a car that's in good working condition and so is it's heater. I also thank Him for letting me have a heavy suede coat with sheepskin lining. Most of the year it's too hot to wear, but it was designed for this bitter cold.

It's just a good day to be alive.

Only a Labrador

Only a Labrador would think that 10 degree weather is great to play fetch in! Since I had to work late today, I felt sorry for our lab who had been cooped up all day in the house with 3 cats, who boss her around. So even though it was 10 degrees out, I stayed bundled in my daughter's heavy winter coat and started walking around our driveway circle, thinking she would enjoy the company while she did her business. Well, she was soooo excited about having someone besides a cat to talk to, that she ran and got her favorite stick and begged for a game of fetch. So around we walked, threw and retrieved, walked, threw and retrieved, walk, throw, retrieve..... until I finally told her that I was going inside and she could stay out if she wanted to. She's still out there, lying in the yard waiting for someone else to come home and play with her. It just emphasizes how stupid people are for putting sweaters on labradors.

Mike did it!! He trained all year for the 1/2 Marathon at Disney World and he did it! I'm very proud of him. But you can see for yourself how proud he is.

I don't think I have this many pictures of him posing for a camera since our wedding!! He and his buddy, Stan, had decided that they were only going to have two goals: 1. to finish in the allotted time allowed (3 hours and 30 minutes) and 2. they were going to have fun. They accomplished both goals with flying colors!

The spectators had a great time too!

Even though we had a great time at Disney World, it is good to be home. The above 3 pictures are my favorites from the trip and it was so much fun to put them on the memory card of my new digital picture frame! My daughter gave it to me for Christmas and I LOVE it! In the past if I had new pictures I wanted to keep at my desk at work, I had to decide which ones had to come down. Now I don't have to make the decision. I just add the new pictures to the old ones and voila! I can enjoy ALL the pictures.

One of the other presents that I got for Christmas is from my son. He got me the Wii Fit. At first I was a little nervous to try it because I've had a pinched sciatic nerve since September. It's bad enough that I've seen 2 doctors, 1 chiropractor and 1 physical therapist. No results, nada; same pain day after day. The only difference was some days it was worse than others. The second doctor finally scheduled an MRI for me. That's when I asked him if I could use the Wii Fit. He said "why not, nothing else is working. Only stop if anything hurts. Nerves are not like muscles, you can't push it through the pain. A damaged nerve stays damaged."

With that warning I started my Wii Fit workouts. They are a blast! In fact, if they didn't come on after each challenge and tell me how much I exercised I would forget that I was "working out". I've actually caught myself laughing and cheering myself on. I got hooked on it and started doing 45 - 60 minutes every day. My co-ordination improved and even better - the pain in my leg eased up. It even disappeared for hours each day! I wasn't able to do the Wii Fit for 5 days but the first 3 days it didn't matter. If my leg started bothering me I just did some of the exercises even while standing in line for a ride.

After two days of "back to the office" I could tell the effects were wearing off. So tonight, I started back on. We'll see how far we go.

He's Still the One *Sigh*

*Sigh*, why does that Shania Twain song always, ALWAYS get to me? From the opening lines of that song, I just think she's singing that song for Mike & I. I mean, it's us, it's all about us. He just kissed me goodbye to go running and it's still special. We were the only ones who believed that we would make it this long. I can still close my eyes and see that sexy smile on him as he threw that underhand pitch to me while I was batting. That was 29 years ago!!! WOW!

Oh yeah, there were times we weren't sure we were going to make it. Times that the very things that attracted us to each other in the first place almost drove us apart. It both fascinated and drove him nuts that I could start a conversation with anyone about anything. I can only stay home for so long and then I have to get out. I have to be around people. I don't care if it's a restaurant, work, Y, school. I don't even have to interact with them. I just have to be around people, they fascinate me, I love to watch them. Mike could hole up somewhere, not see people for weeks and be content.

When we first started dating I was told Mike was shy and withdrawn. He was considered an introvert. Now he's in charge of training the State's CSIs and is a popular guest speaker at big conventions. LOL! His friends from way back when all blame me for that. They say I gave him the confidence, I just showed him how easy it was to get back up if you fall on your face.

Another thing that drove me nuts but at the same time made him the man I love so much, is his devotion to his job. I can't tell you the number of times I was so furious and hurt because he couldn't take time off from his job to be with his family. I wanted him to be there for his kids when they were doing something special, but he would point out that I was there for our kids. He had to be somewhere else for the kids who didn't have anyone to stand for them. The kids whose own parents turned on them, or who left them exposed to the real monsters out there and to protect us all from those monsters.

I do have to admit that when he was really, truly needed (not just wanted) he was there. When my parents were ill, when they died, he was standing just behind me with his hands on my shoulders and whispering in my ear "we'll get through this". When my daughter had a chance to pursue a dream, he was the one that dropped EVERYTHING and drove out to California with her, to make sure it was safe for her to stay by herself. He admits one of the hardest things he's had to do was leave her there by herself. He didn't even trust himself to go back for several years, he was afraid he'd try to order her back home even though he was so proud of what she was doing.

Yep, I was the extrovert, he the introvert. I was the "experienced big city" girl, he was the "naive country boy". I'd been all over the world, he been to his uncle's in Hawaii. I was from a rich white collar family, his was a steady blue collar/farm family. I had my college degree, he didn't. I'd lived in so many different places I couldn't even keep track, and his one big move had been down the block. Small wonder everyone said "no way!"

"But, looks like we made it. He's still the one!"