Run Run Run

I've been following the Couch to 5K running plan in an effort to work in some cardio to help assist my weight loss. I like to run so this was the perfect plan to get me back into it. The plan is 9 weeks to get you to running 30 mins without stopping. It starts out slow and does run/walk intervals.

I'm on week 3. It's a 3 day cycle, but I have made mine 5. My runs are every day Monday - Friday with rest on Saturday and Sunday. This is the first week I went up to 5 days and really I think it has helped. I haven't been sore and the runs have been easier, which helps my confidence because I'm kind of afraid of weeks 4 and 5.

I have a mantra that runs through my head as I run: I'm lighter, I'm stronger. And if I get really tired and am ready to stop running before the time, I imagine my fat cells exploding and giving my tired legs extra fuel.

Sounds corny I know, but it works. So laugh if you want, I really don't care.

I have tried running at different times of the day, first thing in the morning, which didn't work out too well. Late at night after my session with the trainer, again not to well. So far the only time I've found that I can run easily is around 10 AM. I didn't eat anything before the morning run so maybe I'll try again after eating a banana or something. Usually I walk in the morning before eating, since I always heard that walking first thing is supposed to help you burn more fat since it's using your fat as fuel. Well I have a lot of fat so I should be able to walk a damn marathon first thing in the morning. My legs need to be sucking that fat away as I walk and run.

I've read some other blogs that are blogging about their experience with the plan. I will update my progress as well on mine.

Today is day 4 of 5 on Week 3. Monday will be day 5 and then Tuesday begins Week 4.

Ready to run too? Run with me!

Slow

It's been a while since I posted. Not much to talk about really. No drama that provides me good topics to write about. I'll do some randomness.

My parents went back to TN. This sucks. I enjoy having them here. Maybe I'm weird but my parents living with us really doesn't bother me. I enjoy having them close. Hopefully they will be back sooner then November. Maybe the summer will be the time their house sells? Hoping so!

Sweet Girl is going to first grade! She missed the district cut off last year for Kindergarten in the public school. So she went to private Kindergarten at the day care. It proved a good move, she tested into 1st grade fine with flying colors. This makes us happy because she would have been bored out of her gord if she had to repeat Kindergarten again. She really excels at reading. She needed a score of 20 and her score 137! She will be on the younger side of 1st grade going in at 5 1/2 but I think she'll be OK. We've been working on her feeling more comfortable in new situations with new people.

I have been doing pretty good on my weight loss journey this round. I've actually LOST weight. I've changed my mental attitude and it seems to have helped. I guess my fat cells just needed the permission that it's OK to leave. So I've given them permission to leave and am happy to see them go.

I am ready for a vacation. We're heading to the beach in June with some friends and family. I am really looking forward to it. It will be a nice break. Hopefully we stay oil free on this trip since we're heading to the Gulf Shores area of FL.

I can't believe my Little Man is going to be 4. Holy crap. FOUR. He is not a baby anymore. He is animated and cute and smart. And won't give up any kisses for me anymore, because "it's not kissing day, it's only hugging day". Where he learned this I don't know, but I want to know when the hell kissing day is coming back around.

Sweet Girl is requesting I curl her hair now. This makes me kind of nervous. Next thing she'll be asking for eye shadow. And then the car keys.

I don't want my kids to grow up. I miss them when they are at school but sometimes on Sunday I'm looking forward to them going back. Sometimes I regret my decision to work after they were born because work causes me stress and sometimes I don't enjoy the kids as much as I should. But then I think about how I would probably be stressed at home with them every day, so I guess I made the right decision.

Ok well I think that's it.

Ahh Friday

It's been a rough week. I've been battling what I thought were allergies due to the blooming Palo Verde trees (they are the weirdest trees, they are green and they look like aliens in my opinion). But I don't think it's just allergies, I think I have some kind of cold as well. I've been coughing and OMG my chest, it's killing me. The Mucinex helped. A little.

Today I feel better physically. Mentally I'm a little blah.

My parents are going home on Sunday.

I really like having them here so I'll miss them. Leo will miss them too. And probably most of all the kids will REALLY miss them.

But we'll be OK, we'll see them in a few weeks when we head to the beach. And they'll be back. Hopefully sooner then planned.

Misunderstood

I live in Arizona. I am surrounded by the immigration law drama. I have to at times stop watching or reading because I am amazed at just how stupid some people are. And what's even more disappointing is that the media is just as bad. It would be helpful if the media would actually READ the bill. It would also be helpful if politicians including the President read it as well.

Here is a link to it so you can read it. It's not that long even, but if you're going to report on it or discuss it shouldn't you be informed?

And just FYI:

The SB1070 law mimics a current federal law. So I hope the city of LA decides to boycott the Feds now too. Personally I think we should cut off their power and water supply that they get FROM ARIZONA.

The law does NOT state that the police can pull you over, demand immigration papers and then deport you immediately.

You do NOT have to passport to enter Arizona (this is my personal favorite).

I'm sure there are countless other misinterpretations of the law so that the media can spin it and make Arizona look like this horrible horrible place. But isn't it funny that there are multiple other states that are looking to do the same thing as Arizona? I hope they all do.
So come on, come visit Arizona!

Nashville Flood

If you didn't catch an earlier post this week, or maybe you haven't watched the news for more than a couple minutes you may not know that Tennessee, mostly Nashville and close surrounding areas, were and some still are under water. The damage is devastating. But it has not gotten very much national news coverage.

Here is a great article in The City Paper of Nashville. It's an excellent read. It really is amazing how much a difference Nashville and other areas in TN are compared to Katrina. How much Nashville residents pulled together to help and get started on rebuilding instead of waiting for aid or blaming someone else and abandoning the city. I am sure in New Orleans there were residents that pulled together and maybe that didn't get enough coverage.

It’s really a shame that it’s not being covered for the devastation but also to show what it really means to be a community and to help your neighbor. I guess that would probably end up offending someone and lord forbid we ever do that…

Help out! Click here to help the city of Nashville and other TN counties that are in need.

Commentary: Why national media glossed over flooding
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 10:45pm
Patten Fuqua

If you live outside of Nashville, you may not be aware, but our city was hit by a 500-year-flood over the last few days. The national news coverage gave us 15 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story? It may not be as terror-sexy as a failed car bomb or as eco-sexy as an oil spill, but that’s no reason to be ignored.

The Cumberland River crested at its highest level in over 80 years. Nashville had its highest rainfall totals since records began. People drowned. Billions of dollars in damage occurred. It is the single largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. And yet… no one knows about it.

Does it really matter? Eventually, it will… as I mentioned, there are billions of dollars in damage. It seems bizarre that no one seems to be aware that we just experienced what is quite possibly the costliest non-hurricane disaster in American history. The funds to rebuild will have to come from somewhere, which is why people need to know. It’s hard to believe that we will receive much relief if there isn’t a perception that we need it.

But let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No, you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No, we didn’t loot. Our biggest warning was, “Don’t play in the floodwater.” When you think about it, that speaks a lot for our city. A large portion of why we were being ignored was that we weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own.

Some will be quick to find fault in the way rescue operations were handled, but the fact of the matter is that the catastrophe could not have been prevented and it is simply ignorant to suggest otherwise. It is a flood. It was caused by rain. You can try to find a face to stick this tragedy to, but you’ll be wrong.

Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. We saw boats going down West End Avenue. And, of course, we all saw the surreal image of the portable building from Lighthouse Christian floating into traffic and being destroyed when cars were knocked into it. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it.

And yet…life will go on. We’ll go back to work, to school, to our lives, and we’ll carry on. In a little over a month, I’ll be on this website talking about the draft. In October, we’ll be discussing the new Predators’ season with nary a thought of these past few days. But in a way, they changed everyone in this town. We now know that that it can happen to us, but also know that we can handle it.

Because we are Nashville.

I Love The Grand Canyon

We were in Flagstaff this past weekend and went up to the Grand Canyon. I really could go there every week and never tire of it. It's so pretty.

We enjoyed great Canyon views and even got to see some snow when we left Flag. Snow in May! Awesome in my book. Now too bad I live in a desert.

I hope you enjoy the views as much as I do.

Still in Flagstaff, there is a lot of snow on the San Francisco Peaks:


These pictures will never do it justice. It's so much more then the "hole in the ground"






I love this tree!


Granite Rapids on the Colorado River

PROMPTuesday #105

I'm on a roll, two weeks in a row for doing the PrompTuesday over at San Diego Momma. I ran out of time and ended up in a block on this one, but I am OK with what I had.

SO, for today’s exercise, I’d love you to add to the sentences provided below. Complete the paragraph and continue the story.

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“Wait!” I screamed after her. “Your hat!”

She ignored me, which was to be expected. We hadn’t talked, not really anyway, in more than 10 years. I scooped up her black hat. The mesh veil fluttered beneath my fingers…

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“Wait!” I screamed after her. “Your hat!”
She ignored me, which was to be expected. We hadn’t talked, not really anyway, in more than 10 years. I scooped up her black hat. The mesh veil fluttered beneath my fingers…
And she was gone. I wanted to believe that maybe she left the hat for a reason. Like she would come back for it and we could have the talks we used to have. Deep down though, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Deep down I knew she was never coming back. This was it. All I had left of our friendship was this hat. I guess I could put it in a box and on the shelf, and never look at it again. I’m not sure I could do that yet, that’s too much closure and I am not ready for it.

Looking back I should have known she would not be one of those forever friends. She was volatile and always going a hundred miles an hour. Changing thoughts and ideas more than anyone I ever met. But I felt comfort in that. It was so unlike my life that I felt maybe I needed the energy she had to shake things up a bit for myself. I ignored my gut feeling that trouble was lingering. I was having fun and the energy was rubbing off on me. I was recharged. Alive.

Then things started changing, she was dismissing my calls and we drifted apart. I tried on many occasions to connect with her again. But she was not as keen. I was hurt and deflated. I felt so lost with my friend and energy gone. I heard through friends she had gotten in trouble, I tried to reach out to her. Recounting all the fun we used to have together, trying to get her back to me. But again it was a lost cause. This went on for years. I was never one to give up. But after years and years I really gave up hope. And began to ask myself why I was really putting in this much effort.

Flood of Emotion

If you've seen any news lately you know that the Nashville, TN area is experiencing devastating floods. I have to say I am thankful to be living in Arizona at this time but this does make me feel very odd. It's like a strange sense of guilt. I can't really explain it. Like I should be there and experiencing that with all those people too. Why do I feel this way? I guess because in some way I consider that area my home. It took me a long time to feel that way but I guess meeting Leo, getting married, building my first house, and having my children there have me more connected to that area then my own birthplace of Detroit.

And now to see it experiencing catastrophic flooding has me feeling a little strange. Guilt and relief at the same time is not a normal combination. And is hard to deal with.

I think about the house we built and wonder how it fared, I heard reports that the area is quite bad but it was up a hill so maybe the higher ground saved it? And why do I care about a house that is not even mine anymore? I guess because we choose everything in it and watched it being built that I guess I still consider it mine in someway. I wonder what it would be like for us if we were still there? Would we be flooded in? Would we have lost everything? Or at least have sustained damage on our bottom floor? I guess having these thoughts is pointless, other than using them to realize just how lucky we are that we're not having to deal with all that. But there are so many people that are. I hope the waters recede quickly.