The Summer Midway Point

The midway point of summer is just around the corner, 4^th of July.

I can hardly believe that it is already here at the end of the week.  Where has the summer gone?  It was just Memorial Day and now it is the 4^th of July.

 

I was in Brainerd this last weekend visiting the family.  I was able to see my Mike, Kara, Matty, Caleb, and Chloe. The boys are busy this summer with sports and being with their friends.  Chloe is getting so big.  I can hardly describe how different she looks now compared to Mother’s Day.  She has become a little girl who knows what she wants and more what she doesn’t want.  She is just so cute and will be a knock out some day soon.  My brother will have his hands full with her that is for sure. 

 

I got new tires for my car while up in Brainerd too.  It is something I have needed to do for awhile but finally had the extra cash to get it done.  I am happy that I was able to do this and now I can save towards getting new doors and more insulation for the house.  I really want to get this done this year to take advantage of the tax rebates you can get for doing this kind of work on a house.  It will also help with the heating and cooling bills.  I also need to see if I can find an inexpensive air conditioner for upstairs to help keep it cool … it gets really hot up there when it is hot out even with the central air running. 

I will just need to figure out how to block off the top half of the window without the AC unit because the window is a slider.

 

I was able to workout 4 times last week!  I felt good even though it was really hot out until Saturday.  I did the fourth workout at my parents in the driveway.  It was a 35 minute workout 7 sets with 30-50 reps per set.  It was mostly swings but there were some cleans and snatches too. 

It was not a huge calorie burner, 200 calories, but I felt better having done it than I think I would have felt if I had skipped it. 

I got this workout from Tracy Reifkind who is an RKC and though diet and exercise lost over 100 pounds and has kept it off doing Hot Yoga (Bikram) and Kettlebells.  You will see that there is a link to her blog as one of the blogs I follow.  She is so inspirational to keep motivated with exercise and good eating.  I know I can do this and be successful and get the body I want to have with lots of dedication and hard work. 

This week is going to be a challenge to get in 3-4 workouts but I am determined to get it done.  
I am thinking I will be training with Fawn Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and with Michael on Wednesday.  I might even try to knockout the 7 set work out Saturday morning, depending on what time we leave for the cabin.  I will need to do something physical this weekend because I know I will be eating lots of junk and having more adult bevys than normal on Saturday. 

 

I did meet with a trainer last week to talk about nutrition but I am not sure she is the one for me.  She was very nice but, I don’t know.  She did give me some meal replacement granola bars or you can split them and have half as a snack.  I have not tried one yet but if they are good I will get a box from her to have in the house for those I need to eat after working out because I am crazy busy.  I am going to talk to my regular trainer to see what she might be able to offer for nutritional assistance and what it would cost.  

 

The garden in the backyard is look very good.  I need to get out and purchase some cages or u-hoops for the tomatoes because they are growing tall and had started to flop over just as I feared.  There are lots of actual tomatoes on plants and now peppers are starting to show up too.  I need to water today or tomorrow because it was starting to look dry in when I was cultivating and weeding last night.  Soon I will have a bounty tomatoes and put up for the winter.

Last week I ordered some new buffs to wear as head bands for day to day and to use when working out to keep my hair out of my face.  I got them from Planet Buff out of San Diego.  I was surprised when they were at my door this afternoon when I got home from work.  I totally love them and I am excited to wear them all the time.  

I also bought some flowers at Linders Flower mart tonight.  I got some Endless summer hydrangeas for up by the house in the front and other flowers for the blvd garden I am going to do next week.  

It is going to be a busy week this week and I still need to get ready to go to the lake with Dan and the kids along with the rest of his family.  

 

Until next time…

CSA Box #2

I got the second box of the CSA season.  It had lettuce, arugula, mustard greens, radishes, kolrabi, peas and black beans.  I am looking forward to salads again this coming week.  I need to work on making them more interesting to eat though.  

The black beans will take some work to get ready to cook being they were from some bean crops from last year and there are stones, and other non edible things in the bag.

I went to kettlebells tonight and the guys were complaining that we girls were taking the heavy bells and they had to wait for us to get done doing our speedy farmer walks around the studio with heavy bells.  I was not able to do the 88# bells but I am going to try again sometime to farmer walk the bulldogs.  We then did planks, and then variety of other things, double swings, snatches, squat presses, then back to planks.  I was feeling very strong at the end of the night.  I did burn about 370 calories according to my heart rate monitor.  I do need to check my resting heart rate again to see if I need to change it on my monitor to get a more accurate reading of calories burned.  

Dan and I finally talked tonight.  I mean really talked to each other about what was happening between us or not happening between us.  It was a good talk and we both decided we need to step back and work on communicating with each other and to really enjoy each other again like we did when we were first dating.  I have decided not to go to the cabin with him and all of his family next weekend for the 4th of July.  

I figure I can work on my blvd garden and the gardens in front of the house.  I have just the weekend off and nothing extra for vacation time so it will be a perfect time to get that done being I have wanted to work on that since last summer.  

Until next time...

hot Hot HOt HOT!

Summer has arrived in the last day in full force.

It was 94 yesterday and hotter today.  Good thing I watered the garden on Sunday to get it though this heat.  I watered everything again tonight when I got home from work. 

I did notice that the ground cherry plant has 3 ground cherries on it.  I am excited to see everything progressing in the garden.  The brandywine is getting huge!  I need to get more u-hoops to hold up the plants up soon or they will be flopping over onto themselves. 

 

I met with my trainer yesterday and she helped me get some really good stretching in and worked pressure points to try and release some of the muscle tightness I have going on right now throughout my body.  I then went to Kettlebell class.  Holy hanna was that work … we were all sweating like crazy.  It was from a combination of the work we were doing and how hot the space was.  The AC was on high but it was still hot hot hot. 

I managed to burn about 500 calories in the hour.  I have not done that in a while in class so it felt good.  The class consisted of doing 5 double swings at progressively heavier stations from 10# to 44# we hit each station 10 times for a total of 250 swings.  I only did 3 swings 3 times so I was down by 6 swings from the 250.  After that we did walking presses and then waiter walks and finally walking, stopping and pressing. Everyone in class did great. 

 

I get the next CSA box tomorrow.  I have managed to eat almost everything but a bit of lettuce, which I will finish tonight, and a couple of radishes.  I still have not used the corn meal but that will not go bad.  I think I need put it in the fridge though to keep it longer. 

I will post a photo of box 2 tomorrow or Thursday. 

Last week I found a fabulous gourmet store in St Anthony that sells really good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pastas, and salts.  You can read more about what she has to offer here... www.annonagourmet.com

I have also arranged to get new tires for Beverly over the weekend from one of my parent's neighbors.  I am getting a Cooper tire that is a 50K tire with a road hazard.  The price out the door is $392, this is better than what I could get at Sam's club and I trust the guy who will be doing the work.  I am excited to get this done so I do not have to worry about the tires and also because I have the spare on the car right now.  I drove for almost a year with a nail in one of the tires before it gave up the ghost this Spring.  

 

I did not talk to Dan yesterday or today at all.  I did invite him and the dog to stay at my place being I have AC and he does not but, he did not take me up on the invite.  I did talk to sister though about what is happening and she gets my point of view and how if we are to be together Dan needs to let me have opinions and comments about the kids and what they are doing.  She even told me that she doesn’t think she would have been able to date someone who has kids.  I think she feels bad about what is happening with us. I hope he figures out what he wants soon with our relationship because I am not waiting around for him very long.  

Until next time...

Fabulous Busy Saturday

My morning started out early today... I was at Kettlebells at 830 this morning for an hour to start out with a bit of exercise to get really get up and go.  I had my first outside class this morning since we moved to our new location on Central Ave.  We did a racked walked to the first loading dock down from our loading dock, about 100 meters, and then Michael had us jump onto the dock and we did pistols off the dock.  It is much more challenging  outside because we did not have our ropes to use for balance.  I think I might even be able replicate this in my backyard with my retaining wall for the garden.  I had a chance at class to also talk with Katie for the first time too other than saying hello.  We talked about our CSAs and how to preserve veggies for the winter.  She suggested I read the book Animal, Vegetable Miracle.  She found it very insightful on how to eat local all year around.  She has a great goal for the summer too; to be able to do one military style pull up by the end of the summer.  I am going to join her in that goal.  I would be thrilled to do that.  

Once I was done with bells I was off to St Paul to get my eyebrows done for month.  When I was leaving I was surprised to see a coworker standing there to get her brows done too.  We just laughed because neither of us live to close to downtown St Paul.  

After leaving St Paul I ran home to change and I was off to get Dan's kids to take them shopping to get Dan's Father's Day gift.  We went to Hallmark to get a CD that Connor wanted to get him.  I paid for it and now Connor will mow my lawn 4 times to work off the $20 bucks I spent on the gift.  Then we were off to Gander Mountain to get a gift card from the girls.  I spent $15 for Molli and Dani paid $20 so he will be able to get tackle to go fishing or stuff to use hunting.  When the shopping was done I was hungry so we ran to the store and I got some sushi and the kids went and got samples from around the store.  

On the way back Dani asked if we go to Payless or Famous Footwear to see if she could find some shoes she saw on some girl, I did not know where these stores were but we end going to Marshalls and DSW instead; with no luck.  

Once all the shopping was done we went to my place and the kids did some yard work.  Connor got his first lawn mowing done and then Molli weed whipped the yard until the string ran out.  Dani sweep my front walk to make that look really good.  

They even said that they would like to keep coming down to help out and make some cash.  So I have 3 tasks they can choose from: mowing, weeding the gardens, weed whipping, and I will pay them each $5 for doing these tasks for me.  They thought it was fair and I will help me out alot.  

Tomorrow I am going to meet Tanya for breakfast.  I have not seen her in ages and I am really looking forward to see her again. 

The 1st CSA of 2009

I got the first of 18 veggie boxes last night.  It looks great and I am ready to up the veggie consumption this summer.  

The box had lettuces, radishes, peas, corn meal and an herb pot with 8 herbs in it.  

I had a salad last night and it was very good.  

I also went to Kettlebell class last night and I am feeling it a bit in my lats this morning.  We did pull up or controlled descents in my case.  We also did pistols and these funky hip swing things with really heavy bells.  We finished the night with planks and swings, I used a 44# bell for this.   The 44# bell is the start of me wanting to use a heavier weight more often.  

The New Beginning

I am starting with a renewed effort to lean out my body and train harder to get to where I want to be with my body.  I am happy with who I am but, I know I can be better.  I just have to get up and move when I get home each and every night, regardless or I need to make time to get to the gym each day at work and just work longer hours for doing that.  

I want to start working towards completing the kettlebell VO2Max by Kenneth Jay.  It is a protocol that is 15:15.  That means you work for 15 seconds and then rest for 15 seconds.  I would be using a 12kg bell for this and doing 7 snatches every 15 seconds of work.  I will work up to 80 sets at one time.  

Next week I am seeing a trainer in Forest Lake to talk about nutrition and seeing what she has to say about that and what I might be able to do to lean out more.    

My hip still bothers me off and on but I am working through it.  I meet with Casey yesterday and for the hour she just worked on pressure points and stretching me out to try and get it to loosen up.  I totally felt better yesterday afternoon compared to the morning.  I am getting an acupuncture treatment on Thursday and I tracked down Mark Pappenfus my old chiropractor and will go see him next week.  

I need to also decide what is going to happen with Dan and I.  We are just not getting along anymore.  I have had two friends tell me today that I am smart and should not take any thing from him and there are better guys out there for me.  I just need to remember that.

Until next time..

L