Atlantamomofthree’s December Health and Fitness Challenge Week 1

“Run, Forrest, Run!” No one is running in this household. But we say this whenever we see someone running.

My friend Valerie over at Atlantamomofthree started a fitness challenge and invited people to join her.  Valerie has been an awesome friend to me over on the SparkPeople site-where I have an account and only go over there to moan and groan and feel sorry for myself and stuff.  I set the goal to be active for 30 minutes five days in the week.  I think I met the goal.  I certainly will try to keep better track this next week.

You see, I used to be awesomely fit.  Then I had kids.  I had a gym membership up until I became too poor to have one.  Since then I have REALLY gotten flabby and sad.  It’s not that I don’t have time to exercise.  I own all of the Jillian Michaels DVDs-you’d think that just seeing her would motivate me to do something, since I’m afraid she’s going to come to my house and eat me.  I also own a lot of the GAIAM stuff.  I have most of the Rodney Yee yoga DVDs, among others.  I just lose track of time and then by evening I’m too tired to do anything!  I have been somewhat ok at doing some home weight lifting using my old Abs Diet Routine. My main obstacles are two children who would rather do anything but go outside and a dog who is naughty.  I also have a husband who would rather play video games than do anything active.  I miss being active and doing stuff outside and all of that jazz!  Stories of my fitness woes-Memories of Fitness Past, When Mom Attempt to Exercise.

I even tried to have another blog for awhile that was supposed to focus on my exercise and eating, Aluminum Girl.  It FLOPPED.  Because I did NOTHING!

I’m just not sure how I could go from this:

Me six years ago. One kid. Gym membership.  And two fat cats.

To this.  But I did.  The person who would rather eat whole wheat vegan pizza rolls and drink Diet Sunkist Lemonade.  Now I eat what everyone else does because I have to.  That damn money thing again.

Two kids and I’m the only fat cat in the house now!

Anyhooooo-here is how I kind of did this week:

Monday:  Walked an hour-beautiful weather and semi cooperative canine and four year old.

Tuesday:  I lifted some.  It was probably a half hour.

Wednesday:  Walked a half hour with dog before choir practice.

Thursday:  Lifted some again.  Half hour.  My son had his choir concert that night.  My husband took a picture of the three of us and I literally almost THREW UP.  I look horrible!!!!  I need to stop eating and start exercising!

Friday:  An hour of walking-one walk with the dog and stroller and one BY MYSELF.  By the time bedtime rolled around it was pretty obvious that I was getting sick.  One side of my throat was so sore and swollen I couldn’t swallow.

Saturday: New dog collar for the dog!  30 min walk-AND HE BEHAVED.  It was amazing, especially since I felt like poop.

Sunday:  SICK. Did…nothing.

So there you are.  My week.  I actually ate pretty decently too, with the exception of the white chocolate incident.  This week I have made a meal plan, which will probably go all to hell since I have to go home for Christmas this next weekend!

No really…

The Getting To Know The Blogger Challenge: The Rest

I haven’t forgotten about the blogger challenge through A Little Unhinged. I’ve just been really busy with stuff like, receiving AWARDS (yes, people like me for some reason), not sleeping, and getting ready for the holidays.  Now I’m back to finish it up.  Today I’m answering all of the questions that I know won’t take a whole blog post to answer.  I realized that after we started the challenge that the questions were changed a little, so I may be answering some that aren’t on the list any longer!

What are your fears?

I also hate things that pop up suddenly-I can relate.

One of my biggest fears is something happening to my children.  I have lots of dreams where I’ve lost them.  I mean, like I can’t find them.  Dreams for me are so strange anyway.  I also dream about losing my husband.  Now as an ADD person, losing things is highly typical.  Just not children.

My other fear is natural disasters-specifically the more weather related ones.  I probably am afraid of these because it is something totally beyond my control.  My whole life seems beyond my control these days!  I actually have legitimate fear of tornadoes.  As a child we traveled home to see relatives during tornado season.  We were held up during one part of our route, and that turned out to be a good thing.  If we had been on schedule we would have been smack dab in the middle of a horrible tornado.  It was a scary night-I remember it vividly to this day.  The eerie cast to the sky, seeing all the destruction as we drove-telephone poles in the road.  And the radio broadcast-the stories they told. One woman got in her bathtub for safety and took a little ride in it.

A few years later when we were living in Maine my mother and I went shopping an hour and a half away from where we lived.  On the way back, a fuse went out and we were left in our Toyota in the dark, waiting for my dad to come help us.  It was a night of horrific weather with spectacular electrical storms.  This was very scary for me, even though we were probably in the safest place that we could be.  A lot of it probably had to do with that night in Iowa, but in Maine, thankfully tornadoes are very rare.

I can’t watch those shows about the super volcanoes or about the giant earthquakes or about giant asteroids smashing into the earth.  I just can’t!  They scare the bejeezus out of me.

What are your hobbies?

I scrapbook.  Or at least I used to.  Then life got in the way.  It was my release.  I am hoping getting my printhead ordered tomorrow so I can get back into it.  Much like my blogging, it takes up a lot of time because I am a perfectionist about it!

It’s true!  (ignore the typo)

The last couple of questions I saved for last.  This is because I am not real technically savvy when it comes to blogging.  If I hadn’t hooked up with A Little Unhinged, I’d probably still be walking around like a blindfolded person!

What are a couple of your favorite blog tools that you use?

Top blog tools that I use?  Ummmm… a laptop?  Maybe I should just say Bonnie Franks, she’s awesome at answering questions and helping you get things figured out on your blog!

Social Networks/Blog Communities that you want others to know you’re a part of.

Why cats are lousy with social media

Social Networks that I am a part of?  I have a fan page on Facebook, I use Twitter but not as much as I probably should (it is fun to do what I call “Twitterdropping”, where you read conversations that other people have on there.)  I have a Pinterest account that I’ve had for a long time, I just haven’t quite figured out how to link up to it yet.  I’ve joined SITS.  I’ve done a couple of Blog Hops.  I have an account on BlogHer and Networked Blogs.  I’m a member of the Bearded Iris’s #PMSClub on Twitter, does that count?  I created an account on Circle of Moms, but haven’t done anything else with it.  I have an account with SparkPeople through my other blog, Aluminum Girl, that I NEED to do more with but haven’t.  If you know of a social community that I SHOULD be a member of, or you WANT me to be a member of, please feel free to tell me about it!

And that’s all I’ve got for this challenge.  It’s been a lot of fun sharing.  It has also really helped me out-I’ve been inspired to change my blog to work better for me, and am trying to implement some changes that will help all of us connect better.  I have icons to load on there, and I am trying to make a blogroll on my sidebar that includes the blogs I read every day, not just the WordPress ones!  I like giving credit to people who have great blogs!

If you haven’t been participating in the challenge and want to, there’s plenty of time!  I couldn’t get the button right on my blog, but you can click on the link to A Little Unhinged and it will take you to the page where you can get going on it.

I hope you have enjoyed reading all of this!  😀  I leave you with this:

ALL THE CHALLENGE POSTS RIGHT HERE!:

This Could Be Fun:  I’m Doing The 15 Day Getting To Know The Blogger Challenge, Where I Grew Up, Favorite Childhood Memories, School, Work, Life, Friends, Family, Goals, The Why and the What, The Top Posts, The Blogs I Visit

An Oddity (But Enough About Me…)

Just a random funny picture from the crazy person who writes this blog, It actually has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this post!

Dear People in Blog Land:

I have noticed all of a sudden that I have some followers on an old blog.  This is too funny.  I can’t post on it and I can’t find any way to delete it.  But it’s folks that I believe also read this blog as well.  Just can’t get enough of me, huh?  I’m just kidding, you know that, right?

If you’ve signed up to follow Serendipity74’s Blog, I won’t be posting anything else on there. I’ve since changed all of my info, user name, etc.  And I believe I deleted it quite a while ago, but it’s still there.  You just can’t get rid of me that easily-HA HA!  😀

Sincerely,

The Artist formerly known as Serendipity74, now known as The Sadder But Wiser Girl and Aluminum Girl (No, I was never known as Prince)

Another random funny picture that makes me laugh. And has nothing to do with this post.