New Effort Day 2

I spent yesterday running errands, so I took a break from the yard. My body was really stiff though. My hamstrings were so tight it felt funny to walk. Yes, pulling weeds is definitely a workout :p

Since I took a break yesterday, this morning I tackled the back yard. I trimmed a bunch of small tress that were growing around a big tree so that I could actually get to the grass. Then I mowed. I don't know how my piano student managed to be done so quickly when he mowed. It took me 45 minutes, but maybe I did a little more thorough job too. It's so nice to look out the windows at this point - both front and back - and see a nice looking yard. Well, a better-than-it-was looking yard. I still have a LOT of trimming to do in the back - and then hauling :p ugh

Now if only I felt like being so productive on the inside of my house too!

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I've decided I'm ready to do a little bit of clothes shopping, but I'm going to work from the inside out. I got some measuring done yesterday and the lady looked at me really funny when I told her what size I've been wearing. We had to explain that I've been losing weight because I think she thought I was crazy.

Being Realistic

My goal to exercise every day by walking or doing P90X really went out the window after day 1. This week I've decided to have a new plan of action. Although my exercise habit was effective (and essential) during the school year, there were times when it was frustrating for me because I wished I could have spent the morning working in the yard instead. Piano lessons pretty much went out the window this week, so I had more time in the mornings than I had expected. So, I went to work in the front yard. At the end of the school year, one of my students bartered lessons with lawn mowing. Now he is gone for the summer, so I need to stay on top of it. Plus, he didn't do the trimming or other yard tasks that ought to be done as well. The other night I was walking to our front door and realized we only had about 18 inches of our sidewalk visible. The rest was overgrown grass which bothered me a lot. The front flowerbed has been an eyesore for a while and way overgrown. Yesterday I went to work trimming and raking and weeding. My legs are sore from fighting with plants.

Today I mowed the lawn, trimmed the edges and pulled the rest of the grass up in the flowerbed. There is still alot of work to do in the front and the back is even worse. It is so nice to have the time to actually focus and WORK in the yard. I realized today that exercising in the same manner I had been may not be practical every day of the summer, so instead I will do what I want to do and accomplish two goals at once. I have long since believed that our bodies were meant to be used to work. The type of modern exercise we do is a counterfeit. It works, but we would be fit and healthy just by being involved in manual labor. Although I believe this, I am not very good at it. So this summer I want to spend my mornings working in the yard. By the time I get all the trimming done, it'll be time to make the rounds again ;p I think the backyard is going to take a lot of effort because the trees are so overgrown. Hopefully this effort will reduce the mosquito population as well.

I am hoping/thinking that by focusing my exercise efforts this way, I will see weight loss and more toned muscles in the areas that need it. I guess we can call this the work experiment :)

I love the freedom of summer. I find it ironic that I feel like I can accomplish more with school out and Jared home than when school is in session. I think I felt the opposite his first day of pre-k lol I guess our perspective changes over time. Either way, I am grateful for the freedom time allows me.

Yo-Yo and hijabs

So after weighing in at 155.3 yesterday, today I'm at 153.2. I feel like a yo-yo :p Of course, Friday night I did eat quite a bit. And yesterday. Well, I didn't eat a lot yesterday, just what I ate was high point - stuffed crust pizza. YUM! I only had 1 1/2 pieces but since the boys don't eat the crust, I eat their's. It's the best part!

Today I am wearing my new blue skirt. I managed to pull the waistline down to my waist. It fits, but boy is it tight. If I wore one of those tummy control top things I could probably get away with wearing it like that, but I don't feel like being that uncomfortable.

I feel a little bit vain and silly. I know that thinness is attractive, and I know that I have beauty potential. I felt like dressing up today since I'm wearing my new skirt, but as I was getting ready I wondered what the point really was. Matthew is working today, so it's not like I'm doing it for him. I don't want my efforts to cause trouble for others. As I was pondering this issue the other day, I realized the beauty of hijabs - the long robes that cover a woman while in public in the Muslim faith. It is not about oppression, but about intimacy and modesty. Only those who really need to know get to know. I was going to take a picture and add it to the post and hope for oohs and ahs and pats on the back, but I think I'll go scrub my face and change out of my clothes and into a long billowing robe instead.

Re-evaluating

Recent comments/conversations about my current stature gave me pause to look in the mirror - which I rarely do with true scrutiny - and wonder if I should re-evaluate my weight loss goals. I have heard, 'You're just skin and bones' and 'if you lose any more weight you'll look sick'. My response to the skin and bones comment is, I recognize that in parts of my body that really is the case - like my shoulders and across my upper chest and my face/neck - basically my upper body, but that is not where the problem area is. The weight is hanging around my upper thighs/hips - saddlebags - and belly. And then I show them my arm flap lol. Anyway, so I was wondering if 'they' were right. Am I skinny enough at this point? I think I could be ok with my belly. I think part of its current state is the result of having babies. I could live with it. My thighs, eh, they've been this way since birth. There's a reason my brothers called me thunder thighs. They have come down in size quite a bit, but no, I really am not satisfied with their current girth. Last night I was talking with a friend who ran into the same situation when she had lost weight. Ironically, it was about 155 pounds - about right where I am. Well, after today's weigh in, exactly where I am. As we discussed this issue, I explained that 150 is my goal, but I set WW at 140 in hopes that my weight will level out about 145. I realized in that moment, that if 150 is my bottom threshold, I will bounce back up to 160 with time. If I set 140 as my bottom threshold, then 150 will be the top and I will be in the range where I am satisfied. Basically I reaffirmed my goal - and after watching my weight trend for the last week, I need to keep going. It is the first week of summer and I'm already back where I was two weeks ago.

It's been suggested that maybe I need to do less cardio and more exercises that target my specific problem areas. I think I agree with the needing to target those trouble spots more. And as those areas shrink, the number on the scale will too. I guess that means I need to keep up my P90X :p I did it on Monday, but that was it. I just couldn't bring myself to do it the rest of the week. But I know from experience that it is what my body needs. ugh. lol

My exercise has been spotty this week. In the past when I've overeaten I'm able to soothe myself with the fact that I'll at least be exercising in the morning - or had exercised that day. But with the lazy days of summer, I can't depend on that excuse. Last night I indulged myself. I had the points for it too, so it isn't that bad, but I haven't had the consistent exercise this week to keep the weight-loss momentum going. The result was a 2 pound weight gain from last week. After my re-evaluation and realization that the only way I'm going to keep from backtracking is maintain some semblance of exercise, I guess I better 'just do it'.

Card Chart

In Jared's Kindergarten they use a card chart as a disciplinary tool. The color of each card has a set consequence with it, and they progress from one card to the next. Green means they were good all day. Yellow they were given a warning and had to sit in time out. Orange causes them to miss recess or centers. Red they are sent to the principle's office. Blue is a call to the parents. When they stay on green they get a superticket/sticker at the end of the day. If the whole class stays on green, they could fill a jar with marbles or some other thing. When the jar was actually filled they could watch a movie as a class. This system was very effective for Jared. So, we've wanted to use it at home too.

Matthew has been trying to figure out how we wanted to do our own card chart, and finally Sunday we did it. Here is the result:



I kind of winged it in the putting together, so I learned a lot as the project progressed. We had debated each person choosing a fabric for their pocket to individualize it, but we couldn't think of how to do it easily. By the end, I realized I could/should have used the bias tape to reinforce the pocket seems. In doing so, the edges of the individual fabrics would have been hidden. Oh well. Maybe there will be a next time.

We had a family vote on the fabric, and these pencils won.

Materials used:
fabric glue
fabric
clear plastic vinyl
bias tape (extra wide double hemmed)
grommets
matching thread

We measured the size of the fabric and vinyl and cut. We intended to just fold the vinyl up to create the pockets, but it was too challenging to get the bias tape over it, so I ended up cutting the pocket piece off so the vinyl would lay flat - much easier!! So, next time I would measure and cut the back piece and pocket piece separately. To help keep the fabric and vinyl lined up, I used the fabric glue to attach them together around the edges - just enough that the binding would hide it.

I did the pocket piece first. I attached the fabric to the vinyl with glue, then sewed binding only along the top. Next time, I would also add strips of the bias tape where I plan on sewing the pocket seams to create a more finished look as well as reinforce the seams. I'd probably glue them down so I could save the actual sewing to the end. Those strips would need to be done before attaching the top tape so that the ends would be hidden.

Once the pocket was prepared, I then attached it with pins to the back piece (which I'd already glued the fabric to the vinyl). Starting from the bottom, I pinned the bias tape along the outside of the whole chart. I put the edges all the way against the crease of the bias tape, but it didn't have to be that way if we needed more room on the pockets. After the binding was pinned, I sewed it on.

For the pockets, we used index cards as a guage for how big the pockets needed to be, marked it with a dry erase marker (since it's vinyl it would wipe right off with some water and a paper towel), and sewed a straight stitch from the bottom up to top of the pocket binding.

The final step was adding two grommets to the top of the chart - one on each corner. I played with hanging it up with ribbon. Stringing one piece of ribbon through both holes and hanging it from the middle did not work because the chart wasn't sturdy enough to lay flat. Two smaller ribbons tied on each grommet would have worked just fine, but we ended up just hanging it on our front door using clip magnets. For now, that will work well enough until we find a final spot for it.

Blue Skirt

Green Skirt

Summer Day 2 & 3

I was SO tired yesterday. I napped off and on in the morning, but finally pulled myself together and did Chicken Fat. It's a 20 minute exercise/calisthenics video for kids. Jared did it right along with me, so that was nice. It was raining, so we didn't walk in the morning. But, later in the day I needed to go to the store so we walked the half mile down to HEB and back. Between the coming and going and the actual shopping, we walked for 75 minutes - about the same amount of time as my 4 mile walk I had been doing.

Today, I am having a hard time convincing myself to exercise. We'll see what I do. Day 3 and I'm already peetering out. Not a good sign :p

In Cloth Once More

After a month of sposies, I guess we're back in cloth. Matthew and Aaron were gone a lot last month, so disposables were in order. Now that things are settling down, they don't feel like quite the necessity - though it sure is nice and easy. Aaron was actually the one to push me back into cloth. He requested the jungle diaper. I tried using one of Jared's night diapers but he insisted on the jungle one. I asked him if he missed his cloth diapers and he told me yes. So, apparently he likes the CDs. heh, although the other night I put him in his big bulky night diaper before he was actually in bed and he complained about it being too big. It was funny watching him trying to walk with all that fluffiness!! Usually he's in bed and it doesn't matter.

When he is in sposies, Aaron doesn't have any problem getting everything needed for a diaper change - diapers, wipes, powder. Yesterday was the first time I really gave him the opportunity to get a CD. I'd actually gotten all the supplies and tried to change him, but he wanted his blanket to have the PF (prefold). Finally I cleaned him up and told him to go pick out a diaper for me. He came back with three PF and a frog diaper (FuzziBunz). It was kind of cute. I'm glad he enjoys being in the cloth. When he was a newborn, he HATED them!! He has never been one to like being wet, and as a baby he let us know it!

Maybe we'll try potty training again soon.

Southwestern Chicken Black Bean Soup

Southwestern Chicken Black Bean Soup 2 pts for 1 cup soup (without cheese or chips)

Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 cups fresh corn or frozen corn
1 can (15-1/2 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
16 baked tortilla chip scoops, crumbled
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Directions

In a large kettle or Dutch oven, saute chicken in oil until no longer pink. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan, saute onion and jalapeno pepper until tender; add garlic and saute for 1 minute.

Stir in the broth, corn, beans, lime juice, salt, hot pepper sauce, pepper and reserved chicken; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Stir in cilantro. Top each serving with crumbled tortilla chips and cheese. Yield: 8 servings (2 quarts).

Editor's Note: When cutting hot peppers, disposable gloves are recommended. Avoid touching your face.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving (one cup soup with 1 tablespoon cheese and two crumbled tortilla chips) equals 227 calories, 4 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 37 mg cholesterol, 647 mg sodium, 27 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 21 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 2 lean meat, 1-1/2 starch, 1 vegetable.

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Made June 8, 2010. I was happily surprised to see the soup by itself was only 2 points for 8 servings. I added the chips and cheese separately when I calculated my points because it was easier to get an accurate accounting.

Variations:
*I cooked it in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. I cubed the chicken (which was frozen) and added all the other ingredients except the cilantro which I added in the last half hour. The leaves did look kind of bleached by the time the timer went off, so next time I might wait to add them. But, it did give them a chance to add their flavor to the soup.

*I did not add the jalapenos, so this soup was not as spicy as it could have been, but it had a wonderful flavor.

*I used white corn instead of yellow, so it looked really bland. Probably if I had used jalapenos or yellow corn it would have looked more colorful. I was surprised it didn't call for diced tomatoes. Perhaps a future trial might include a can of ro-tel in place of jalapenos.

Coming Home

I wanted to blog last night, but ended up turning the computer off in case our power went out with the storm overhead.

Maybe it's the relaxing pace of summer hitting me, but yesterday I actually pulled out my spiral with the recipe plans and WANTED to make dinner again - and I did! I had this feeling like I'd been on vacation and finally came home. And really, I have been mentally checked out. We spent just about all our grocery money on restaurants and laundry and dishes have been done minimally. So, I guess without the rush-rush of school and piano afterwards plus all the other demands, I feel like I can concentrate on being home and all that requires. It's nice to enjoy my responsibilities and my kids.

I even finished my two skirts I'd started last month. I'm pretty excited to have two new skirts hanging in the closet. I will post pictures in a little bit. I did step-by-step pics for the blue one to put up a tutorial. With all the sewing I've done lately I may add a sewing link.

Summer Day 1

Well, I managed to do CardioX this morning AND a 15 minute walk. yay!! I have my doubts about how long I'll really be able to do a double duty workout b/c I was only half-heartedly doing the P90X, but we'll do something at least. We didn't have time to go to the track to walk, so we just took one around the neighborhood. I think 15 minutes is just about right for Jared.

Weigh-ins:
Saturday - 153 something
Sunday - 154 something

I was glad that my Sunday weight seemed to line up better with my Saturday weight. There was a 3 pound difference between this week and last week's weight. crazy! My eating habits weren't that great this week with all the birthday celebrating, so I'm glad that there was still a weight loss at all.

I had my first real public appearance in my swimsuit Saturday. I was told it was time to get a new one because this one was hanging off of me lol I do agree that I could use some new bottoms at least b/c they were pretty loose. I guess that's a benefit to a tankini :)

I think I'm ready to do some clothes shopping. I was telling Matthew that I'm a little afraid to do that because I'll be comfortable in my clothes and it's more likely that I'll give up at that point. I think that was one of my contributing factors for stopping last time. I can probably get away with waiting on my day-to-day clothes. I've found t-shirts for $2 at Target, so I'm really ok there. My pants are big, but they are still wearable. The big need is in my Sunday wardrobe and underclothes. I can't wear the t-shirts to church, so I've pretty much been left with one blouse for church and it's a sweater. All my others are really too big or are long sleeved. I need to finish the skirts I started, and that would help a bit too. My other hesistancy is the 'what if' factor. What if I get pregnant in the next couple of months? Would it be better to spend money on maternity clothes? or to have the regular clothes? And what if I buy a bunch of new clothes, get pregnant and then can't ever fit back into this size? decisions decisions....

Miracles!

Tonight was the first night in a LONG time that I made dinner. What a difference a home cooked meal is in points!! I made sweet and sour meatballs served over brown rice with a side of california baby blend vegetables and steamed zucchini. Total points = 9 points for the whole thing! I have a fridge full of take-out leftovers (mostly in honor of all my birthday dinners) that are high in points - but yummy to the tummy. This morning I was thinking that there is no way I can live off of 23 points. It's impossible! I realize that statement is true if I am eating out every day, but if I get my act together and actually prepare meals in my own home it is possible. Inviting the missionaries over for dinner was the only reason we didn't eat out tonight.

Jared was so excited when he saw what we were having for dinner. He gave me a huge hug and thanked me for making his favorite meal. It's a good thing I had a package of meatballs in the freezer. I chose this entree because it was so easy. I guess I have to start back into a cooking routine somewhere :)

On another happy note - because the missionaries were coming and our sink was overrun with dirty dishes and the kitchen was an absolute mess, we put the dishwasher back together with the new control board. YAY for working modern technology!! The dishwasher is running the load of dirty dishes from dinner as I type and it is music to my ears :) This has been a huge hurdle for making dinners at home, so hopefully this will also help motivate me to get back in the kitchen!

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy 33rd Birthday to me :) It has been a wonderful day, and I'm so grateful for good friends and a loving family!

A good friend was so thoughtful and brought us dinner tonight in honor of my birthday. She brought salmon, a salad, and baked sweet potatoes plus a muffin dessert sort of like ones that are made at Mimi's Cafe (never eaten there, so I have nothing to compare it to). It was delicious, and I appreciate her efforts to make a good healthy meal for me. Too bad I blew my healthiness AFTER dinner :P

It's only Tuesday and I've already eaten through ALL of my weekly points AND yesterday's activity points. Man!!! I know it's my birthday, but goodness!!! I actually would have been ok, but we went to Chili's to celebrate this evening - crap. I just remembered about the choc covered bananas the boys made me for my bday treat:P and I forgot to account for the dessert muffin I ate - Anyway, and I got a free fudge brownie sundae which is a whopping 32 point dessert. I decided the heck with it and ate as much as I could (which was most of it.) So, I lost a good 21 points - a DAY'S worth of points!! - on a brownie that made me feel sick afterwards because it was so rich. I should have just stopped with the chips and salsa. Just for the record, I am glad to have spent the evening with friends and I am not disappointed or upset about anything that happened there other than my own lack of self control.

This week isn't really going to get any better when it comes to my points. My parents want to take us out to dinner one night, Friday I'm having a pizza party for my piano students, and Saturday is a birthday party. I'd say for the first time since I started WW in January this week is a WASH!! I may get to find out what happens when you use all available points :p Guess it's time to workout two or three times a day :p

Hopefully this doesn't become a habit. There is a reason I am hesistant to buy new clothes :P Stop the Insanity!!!

Merrily we roll along...

40 points spent today. DOUBLE my daily allowance!! At this rate I'll be back where I started in no time at all!! My birthday week was the hiccup two years ago when I was losing weight, and it seems to be deja'vu. Part of my relaxed attitute lately has been an experiment of sorts to see what if I could maintain healthy eating habits if I weren't constantly checking my points. Apparently the anwer is no. I know how much each thing is worth, but I fail to add them all up - which is where the problem lies. I was doing better when I had 25 points to spend. This 23 points business is hard! Or maybe I'm just getting lazy (which is probably the real problem).

Consequences Happen

Weigh in - 157.2. Ugh!! Very disappointing considering just moments earlier I weighed on the 'off' scale at 152.6. Although the actual pounds are off, it is usually accurate in the direction my weight is headed. I guess all the bad eating has caught up. Unfortunately it's not going to improve over the next week with my birthday being on Tuesday and we already have plans to go to Chikfila for lunch. *sigh* The good news is that when I go up I tend to be jolted back into a stricter regiment.

I know a lot of this bad eating is because I'm not cooking our dinners. I realized the other day when I was posting my recipes that I quit making dinner when our dishwasher went out of service. Having to wash the dishes by hand really makes being in the kitchen a drudgery.

Here's to a better week!

Granola Cereal Bar

Granola Cereal Bars 6pts each in 12 bars

Ingredients

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1-1/2 cups crisp rice cereal
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips

Directions

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the brown sugar, peanut butter and corn syrup; cover and microwave on high for 2 minutes or until mixture comes to a boil, stirring once. Stir in the vanilla; add oats and cereal. Fold in chocolate chips. Press into a 9-in. square pan coated with cooking spray. Cool and cut into bars. Yield: 1 dozen.

Editor's Note: This recipe was tested in a 1,100-watt microwave.

Nutritional Analysis: 1 bar equals 199 calories, 7 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 88 mg sodium, 31 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 5 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 fat.

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Made May 27th. These were so good!! Dangerously good at 6 pts for 12 servings!! Well, per the nutritional info they are only 4 points, but I substituted the swirled chocolate and peanut butter morsels for the mini chips because that is what I had. Wowsers!!

The only problem I had with these is that they didn't keep their form very well. They were very crumbly. But, I'm willing to overlook that considering how delicious they were!

Eggplant Bruschetta

Eggplant Bruschetta 1pt per slice

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

Place eggplant slices in a colander over a plate; sprinkle with salt and gently toss. Let stand for 30 minutes. Rinse and drain well. Coat both sides of each slice with cooking spray. Place on a broiler pan. Top eggplant with tomatoes, basil and cheeses. Broil 6 in. from the heat for 5-7 minutes or until eggplant is tender and cheese is melted. Yield: 8 servings.

Nutritional Analysis: 2 slices equals 68 calories, 3 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 9 mg cholesterol, 242 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 5 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 1 vegetable, 1 fat.

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Made May 27th. I made this for bookclub tonight, along with the Feta Spinach Melts that are so yummy. One person seemed to really like them. I do not have a working broiler, so that may have effected their turnout. I thought they were ok. Unfortunately they were cold by the time I had one, and I think it probably would have been better fresh from the oven.

Endure to the End and Lengthen Your Stride!

Today I weighed in at 156.1 and received a congratulatory star from WW for hitting 25 pounds lost.

Despite the weight loss, I have been feeling really flabby. My arms are a large source of discontentment in that regard. I remember being in 7th grade and watching my math teacher writing on the chalkboard - more specifically, I remember watching the skin under her arms flap as she wrote on the chalkboard - and promising myself that I would never let that happen to me. I am always aware of my arms, but become even more aware as I teach my piano students and catch a flap from my under arm in my peripheral vision as I point to something on the page. blech When I was doing P90x regularly the muscles were getting toned enough that the flap was disappearing - and it stayed that way for awhile after we started walking all the time too because I was pushing a stroller. But, Aaron has been at home most days lately so the arms aren't getting that extra work out. And it is showing. I feel soft in the middle and on my arms -- and in my resolve.

This has been a bad week for food. I've stayed within my total point allotment (daily and weekly), but I've eaten more than my stomach is used to anymore so I've felt so stuffed. This feeling has certainly contributed to the flabby feel I'm sure. Monday I had dinner at my parents', Tues was a Carl's Jr hamburger - I was SO hungry for a hamburger. I don't remember the last time I ate a restaurant burger. I had the points for it, so I went for it. YUM. Wed Jared earned a trip to Mr. Gatti's - there's a reason you don't see skinny people at buffets. Oh I was stuffed. Thursday Matthew came home with free Chikfila coupons, so we ate there. Friday I made mac n cheese with sausage for dinner, then Saturday was a birthday party. I don't think my body got a single healthy meal this week!! I've totally failed on the not eating after 9 pm goal too.

The last few days I've been so worn out too. Part of that is my fault because I stayed up late reveling in the quiet of the house while half the family was out of town. It caught up with me when everyone returned and the workload doubled again. I'm sure my choice of cuisines played a part in it too. And hormones.

After I inputed my weight for WW, I got this message from the system:

Please note:You’re probably excited to be losing weight, but you’re losing faster than is recommended. Although it’s normal to lose over 2 lbs in 1 week, if you lose more than an average of 2 lbs per week over a 4-week period, this could pose health risks, such as heart irregularities, anemia or loss of muscle mass. Please slow your weight loss; your doctor can help you do this if you’re not sure how.

So now I wonder, is this flabby feeling possibly related to rapid weightloss? And the tired feelings anemia? I probably ought to be taking vitamins, and I've even thought about it every once in awhile. I guess I need to be more diligent in that regard so that I can trully be healthy and not just someone who's lost a lot of weight.

My plan for the summer is to re-integrate P90X into my routine and hopefully that will help counteract this flabby feeling. Our walking group will go on hold until school starts again, but I know Jared is interested in exercising. My goal is to go down to a school track in the mornings and walk. I don't know if I'll really be able to maintain an early morning schedule - getting up at 6:45 am, but I'd like to at least try. If I can manage it, my hope for a routine is this:

6:45 am get up
7:00 am P90X
8:00 am walk track
9:00 am come home, shower, start day, etc.

OR I may alternate walking and P90x. We'll see what happens.

I've come so far I don't really want to give up, but I'm hitting that point where I'm becoming more relaxed in my fervor. I know one of the reasons I ate as bad as I did this week was a mental test to see how much I could get away with without 'paying' for it. I recognize that as one of my subconscious reasonings, and so far the scale has let me get away with it, but my physical feelings tell me it cost a lot more.

So with all these thoughts it mind, I was contemplating the concept of 'enduring to the end' this week. There is a reason the Lord includes "enduring to the end" as a requirement for salvation. I was discussing this topic with the Primary President on Saturday, and she said that she hates that phrase because "endure" conjures up such a negative feeling for her - drudgery, bad experiences, etc. I told her that that is exactly why enduring is part of the package. Even when we're going through a good spot, sometimes we get bored or tired with what we're doing and want to do something else. The true test is whether we'll persevere despite the drudgery and boredom.

I resolve to 'lengthen my stride', cowboy up, and endure to the end. Here's to perseverence!!

Soliciting Opinions

I wanted to scratch that itch to make a skirt, so I pulled my stuff out tonight to do it. I'd prefer to practice before messing up my better fabric, so I tackled the skirt I started two years ago. I ironed and measured for the difference. The ruler is the new line - see all that fabric to the right that's going bye bye?

It's always a good idea to try something like this on, so I did. This is what the end product is supposed to be like:

However, look how small the waist really is. I could trim it off to fit at the waist, but I kind of like the high waist. I could add a band so it'll stay up. It could even be used as a halter dress because of the way it fits.

But I also thought about sewing a top to it. All that fabric that I trimmed off could be put to use. The idea was to make a sort of criss-cross top - a dress with an empire waist.


Now, here's your part - tell me which one you'd vote for.