Inspiration

Sometimes the things that some people do make you question their sanity (slip-n-slides are not good for the 25 and over crowd.)

Other times people inspire you to do things that you would rather not, things that are hard and can hurt.

My baby sister has got an iron will, when she sets her mind to something . . . well, it is best to just get out of her way. She decided a few months ago to take up walking and since she is one who doesn't do things halfway, she now walks 10 miles a day.

I wish I had a 1/4 of her willpower.

She doesn't know this, but she inspired me to start walking again. It is so hard starting exercising when you are overweight - ok, I am actually obese. Overweight would be easier. I think. There is a temptation to do too much in an effort to lose a bunch quickly. In the past, I would find some impractical workout program ("go from couch potato to running a 5 K in 4 weeks") and then give up after I injured myself. Following her lead, I started slow (we do have very different ideas on what "starting slow means" - and am working my way up but not to 10 miles a day. Maybe 5.

Right now I am up to 3 miles. Well, as of yesterday I did 3 miles and I don't know about today. It depends on how loud I hear my sister yelling at me to keep moving - she is like my own private Jillian. Except the real Jillian wouldn't actually kick my butt, my sister might.

BELT LINE!!!

In Junior's Tae Kwon Do school they have a tradition of doing a belt line when a child has a birthday. They put the kids in two lines and have the birthday kid walk between the lines while the kids get to whack the birthday kid with their belt. There is a challenge for the kids, they can run it like a boy or walk it like a man. Most choose to run but Junior chose to walk.

My drug of choice

Or maybe I should say more former drug of choice, because I have broken the habit. I occasionally get cravings but mostly they are gone.

I no longer have a driving urge for it.

I am free - or mostly free.

My former drug of choice? Wheat (or gluten).

Yep. You read that right. Wheat. normally for me in the form of pasta.

At first I thought of the title of this post as a kind of joke, but as I thought about it the more I realized the truth of the statement.

When I was hungry, I wanted pasta. Or bread. Or breading.

I have eaten plain pasta because I was craving pasta. I have eaten pasta with a can of tomatoes (no seasoning, just a can of tomatoes). Pasta with only parmesan cheese (from a can). I would limit us to spaghetti with meat sauce only once a week and mac and cheese only once a week but chances are a good portion of the other meals had pasta (beef stroganoff over pasta, soup with pasta, pasta casserole).

Bread was the runner-up choice - much like a smoker will occasionally use dip for the nicotine fix I would use bread for my fix. And sometimes a meal would contain both - spaghetti with garlic bread.

So I stopped letting wheat and gluten control my life. I cut it out of my diet. Completely. (well except 2 slip-ups before Christmas).

I don't crave it all the time any more. We had a "macaroni and cheese" last night that was gluten-free and dairy-free and was pretty good. In fact Daisy asked if there were any leftovers. But we had it because Junior had been wanting mac & cheese for weeks.

I have had the gluten-free pasta and sauce in the pantry for 3 weeks but haven't made it because I haven't felt like it. I have wanted to eat other stuff.

I want a gluten-free sandwich bread recipe but I am not frantically searching for one I and the kids like. But a few weeks ago I was.

I am still looking for a bread recipe but not as frantically. For now I am just enjoying feeling better.

Oh and another thing on the wheat free bit

If there is a wheat/gluten intolerance there can be a bloated, full feeling after eating it. Since wheat is in so much, it is difficult to accidentally have a wheat free meal unless you try so you may not notice the bloated feeling. And it may be a more general bloating, all over.

Well, I have noticed the past few days my wedding ring just spins around on my finger. The same finger that it has been snugly on for months.

And I have lost 4 pounds. WOOT!

In a related bit of news, I went to the doctor today and found out that my blood sugar is creeping up high. I am not diabetic yet but if I don't change some things I will be. I am hoping that getting rid of the wheat will be enough to cause a significant change since I don't eat that much sugar-sugar (although I did get quite a bit from all the pasta and bread). I loathe sweet-tea (bad southerner), don't like soda, and really don't eat that much candy (nothing like a daily basis).

Surely it is from all the processed wheat products.

I hope.

A new 5 X 30 Challenge! Are you up for it?

This one is going to be a tiny bit more complicated. It is still 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week, but this time also choosing to forgo 100 calories.

Any 100 calories. Just don't have that 2nd piece of cake, or don't sneak the candy out of one of your children's eggs, or only drink 2/3 of that coke, or . . . well you get the idea.

Just doing that one thing every day will have you losing 10 pounds in a year.

Come join us over at2nd Cup of Coffee.

I can't even begin to think of a title

On Wednesday for the past few weeks the homeschool group has gotten together and let the kids play kickball and softball. The younger ones (under 1st or 2nd grade) just do kickball and the older (up to 13 years old) played both.

The kids have loved it, its low key and fun.

Wednesday I get a phone call from C, she has been coaching the little ones in kickball.

I didn't really think anything of it, we go to the same church, our sons are friends . . .

Ya'll, she asked me to coach! (Did you hear that thud? That was the sound of my family falling off its chair laughing.)

I don't mind admitting, I am horrible at sports. Awful. Beyond belief.

I passed P.E. because I showed up and my teacher took pity on me.

True story: in 1st or 2nd grade we had 2 sisters from Cambodia arrive at our school. They didn't speak a word of English and had to be very overwhelmed. They only went to school with us for a few months before they went to another school (I don't know why).

In 9th grade we went to school together again and became friends. They remembered me from when we first went to school together.

Do you want to know why?

They remembered me as the girl who was afraid of the ball - which I might add is something I haven't outgrown.

So I "coached" kickball.

I suppose it went ok, nobody cried, there was no blood. Really there are only 3 of the little ones who have the slightest clue what is going on and one of those kids is Junior.

Talk about out of my comfort zone though!

I did it! The 5 X30 challenge

Well I participated in the 5 X 30 challenge and actually completed it! We had a long and grueling exercise regimen to follow: it was 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 2 weeks.

I know! Awful!

No really, I felt pretty good about it. It was nice having "5 days a week" instead of setting days, and then kicking myself when I didn't do them.

I kept up perfectly. Well, except for the day that I only did 20 minutes. . . . And Wednesday when I "coached" kickball (which should count as partial credit since the coach is also the pitcher).

So

Some of the best news!

I finally broke down and went and bought me a new pair of jeans.

Because my favorite jeans are way too big.

The ones that used to give me a muffin-top less than a year ago.

The new ones I bought (on sale, cha-ching) are 2 sizes smaller.

Woo-hoo!!!!

I wish it was as easy to run in reality as it is to imagine myself running.

See I have a vision in my head of me running laps, maybe not like a track star, but running fairly easily.

The reality is far different. Jogging I get red faced and gasping. It isn't pretty. Or easy.

But if it helps me get into smaller jeans . . . .

I did it !

Well I finally was able to walk/jog the entire 20 minutes(plus walking for 5 min as a warm up). So the total distance was about 2 miles.

It is probably pretty funny watching me on my walk/jog. I have my dogs following me, and the neighbor dogs running along too. So I can have 5 or 6 dogs going back and forth with me. Then today my kids went along too on their bicycles. I just need a marching band to go with me.

--------------------------------------

We took Daisy to the eye dr about her contacts - with the littles, they like to follow up in 2 weeks to see how they are doing. They were very impressed with how well she has done. The first day on taking them out she needed some help, she wasn't sure if they were out or in and she didn't have a close up mirror yet. Other than that, she has needed no help.

And she has worn them everyday except when she was at camp (she didn't want them falling in the mud.)

Honestly she does better than I do.

I made a 1 year prescription last 5 years. To be fair, I didn't wear contacts most of those five years (they are the disposable ones).

pheww!!!

Do you remember this post where I stated that I was going to post on whether or not I worked out, because embarrassment would make me work out?

Or how about this one where I promised I would get back to working out on Monday, January 26?

Oops.

With all that has been going on, and me being a stress eater, I have added a few pounds. Only about 4 and I caught myself which is progress for me.

So I started working out again, not using the Wii yet (because it's gonna fuss at me, both programs). But I've started the Couch to 5K program.

Sort of.

Since I am sooooooooooo out of shape, I am modifying the first week or so. Day 1 I walked for 25 minutes, day 2 I walked for 5 and then did the walk/jog like they recommend but only for 10 minutes, and did that again today.

It is only supposed to be 3 days a week, but since I haven't done a full day yet . . . .

I just finished a workout. So right now, I am contemplating death.

I watch the Biggest Loser, and there is the one girl Tara who will slow down her workouts to throw up and then go back to it.

I can't push myself that hard. I get queasy and slow down.

But we have a family trip to the beach this summer.

Which means a swimsuit.

sigh

So I have got to push myself harder.

bigger sigh

Lazy Sunday

I fell off the workout wagon.

I do have a good excuse though, some kind of stomach bug bit me.

So I didn't work out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or today. The first 3 days, I really wasn't up to it. Today I was lazy.

I will get back to working out on monday.

I really will.

--------------------------------------

On the plus side, I was able to work on my 9/9/9 challenge.

2 books down.

In the "Books I Already Own" category, I read Deborah Bedford's book Blessing.
It was a good book, not anything deep, but I also had a stomach bug. I didn't want to have to think.

And then I also read Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. I love that book. (I also love the movies, both of them but that's beside the point.) Not only do you get to step into another world, but also another century. I am a bit bugged though that it is a fictionalized account so I may have to read the memoirs of Anna Leonowens. Although some scholars are saying she might have not been completely truthful (who is?). So I guess this goes in the General Fiction category.

So 2 down, 79 to go.

various and sundry

Today we went and saw a production of Stellaluna at the community college and the kids loved it. It was funny and wonderfully done. I am amazed at the difference in behavior of these kids (K-4) compared to others we have been to (4th and up). You would think the youngers would have impulse control issues and so would act up more than the older ones (who should know how to behave better.) You would be wrong. There have been schooltime performances where I have regretted going during schooltime hours, but the kids at this one were very well behaved.

fitness update

The only day I missed completely was Sunday, but we had been out of town (and that's why I only promised to do 6 days a week). I did sort of wimp out a couple days and only do a 15 minute workout but that's it.

My next work out with "My Fitness Coach" will be another fitness test to see how I have improved. Or not.

New blog

In other news, I decided to move all my recipes to a new blog, and do nothing but recipes and cooking stuff there.

We will see how well that works.

Right now its kind-of skimpy, only about 19 recipes, but I am putting all my family favorite recipes. Some of them are gluten-free and most some are not. Many of these recipes are ones I loved before I started eating mostly gluten free. I can think of very few meals that were not based around pasta or some other form of flour. Thankfully, I am not craving wheat pasta like I used to.

Please ignore the template. I haven't quite decided how I want to design it yet so its just one of the standard background with some slight tweeks.

The address is chaos-in-the-kitchen dot blogspot dot com

fitness update

I haven't been posting daily about whether or not I have worked out but I have been. 30 minutes every day.

I thought I had gotten past the sore phase.

Nope. After the 2 million squats yesterday and the couple hundred today, my thighs are mad at me.

I am improving though. To start working out with MFC you have to do a fitness test that includes how many crunches, girly push ups, and squats you can do. My first test was pretty bad.

One girly push up -- maybe. It wasn't a good one.

I had to retake the test day before yesterday, and didn't really expect any improvemnt (it is only day 7 today--when I took the test it was day 5).

I can now do 8 girly pushups!!

My number of squats improved some and the number of crunches stayed the same. I was a little tired though and so could have done more.

Anyway, that is days 3-7 with a work out each day.

Extreme Measures

Well, it has gotten to a very drastic point. I think that this is the only way that the situation can be remedied, even though I really hate to resort to these measures.

I am talking about exercise. Yep, I have lost almost 20 pounds since last January just by eating healthier but the weight loss has stopped. So now I have to start exercising if I want any more of it to come off.

Don't try to stop me.

It's got to be done. I've got about 50 more to go before I get to my "ideal weight"( as defined by BMI and various sources).

So anyway, here is the deal: I don't like exercise and at my size its not easy. Thing is, right now I am extremely bloated so its the ideal time to start really trying to lose weight. When else can you easily lose several pounds without effort? But since I will be making an effort, it will be almost like seeing instant results.

Right now I am pretty gung ho but I am sure that won't last long. So here is my plan, I am going to commit to at least 5 days a week of 30 minutes. Most weeks I am going to be doing 7 days a week but I have some events coming up that will make it difficult (trips out of town) so I am giving myself a little wiggle room.

But back to THE PLAN: I know in a week or two this isn't going to be sounding like fun and I will be coming up with all sorts of excuses to not work out. So, I am going to post here whether I worked out or not. See I am not going to post my whiney excuses, so it will be an added incentive.

So for the next 29 days expect to see a report of my workout. Why 29? Well there are 31 days in this month and I worked out yesterday and today and I say those 2 days count!

And here is my report:

Saturday Jan 3 -- I just got a new program called "My Fitness Coach" that works with the Wii and between that and the Wii Fit, I should be worked into shape (besides round). I did some with the Wii fit and then I did 15 minutes of yoga and 15 minutes of "core body workout" with the MFC (My Fitness Coach). Felt tired but pretty good after finishing.

Sunday Jan 4 -- I got up early and did a 30 minute aerobic workout with the MFC. It wasn't easy but I wasn't miserable. Hours later though, my muscles are talking to me. My legs, thighs, lower back, stomach, and shoulders are a little sore. Not too bad, but I am much less flexible now with the soreness than I was before. I am not looking forward to tomorrows workout.

I am still going to post that cornbread recipe, but not tonight. We are starting school again tomorrow so I need some rest.

Earning Stripes

Well Junior has not been involved in Taekwondo for very long but he has gotten 2 stripes. One I am not 100% sure he deserves, but the other WOOHOO. They each had to stand up and do the form? where they say "get back" (high block) "leave me alone" (3 punches) "I'm safe" (stepping back) and Junior did it perfectly.

He is . . . very hyperactive, so him being able to do this is great. He is listening, sortof, to the announcements that they make at the end of class. His teacher was talking about the graduation that will be held on thursday, and Junior has taken it to mean that he will graduate on wednesday to an orange belt.

I tried to tell him but he is still pretty sure I am wrong. Wednesday's class might be interesting.

Juniors Team won a game

Juniors team finally won a game. They actually played like they had a clue what was going on and the other team . . . well it was pretty sad. I did feel bad for the other team because they couldn't have won a game at all.

In t-ball, there is a limit of 7 runs per team per inning (to give the poorer team a chance). We ended up playing 3 innings (it was 8 to 21) Somehow, Junior was always on base when it was time to go back to the box. However he wanted to run the bases, so he did. The first time his coach tried calling him in, realized what he was doing and just laughed. Second time, the opposing coach was telling him that he was going the wrong way. The last time, no-one tried to stop him. The look on his face when he crossed the plate was priceless. I really wish I had had my camera.

Funny thing was, he had no idea that they had won. On the way to the car I asked how he enjoyed winning a game. He stopped and said "we won? I thought the other team won!" So once he found out they had won, we had to call family and let them know.

Tomorrow is another game. I'm hoping for a winning streak.

Juniors Team won a game

Juniors team finally won a game. They actually played like they had a clue what was going on and the other team . . . well it was pretty sad. I did feel bad for the other team because they couldn't have won a game at all.

In t-ball, there is a limit of 7 runs per team per inning (to give the poorer team a chance). We ended up playing 3 innings (it was 8 to 21) Somehow, Junior was always on base when it was time to go back to the box. However he wanted to run the bases, so he did. The first time his coach tried calling him in, realized what he was doing and just laughed. Second time, the opposing coach was telling him that he was going the wrong way. The last time, no-one tried to stop him. The look on his face when he crossed the plate was priceless. I really wish I had had my camera.

Funny thing was, he had no idea that they had won. On the way to the car I asked how he enjoyed winning a game. He stopped and said "we won? I thought the other team won!" So once he found out they had won, we had to call family and let them know.

Tomorrow is another game. I'm hoping for a winning streak.

Ball Games again

Well we had another three games on saturday. We were at the ball feilds from 8:30 until 4:30. I have a theory about the coaches for t-ball/soft ball. There are those who played ball when they were young and were extremely competitive, and those who are coaching because their kids are playing and they want to volunteer.

Junior's game was pretty bad. The kids still don't have much of a clue, not even the coach's kid, who is on the pitchers mound. The thing is, the kids are upset enough, they don't need the coaches screaming at them that they run "like a bunch of girls." What exactly is that going to do? I also seem to be one of the few that it bothers. Several of the other parents laughed when he appologized to the girl on our team for putting it that way.

Seriously most of them are 5 years old, there are only 2 six-year-olds on the team. At this age, they need to be learning the basics, and practicing. Sports should be something that builds their self esteem. Junior feels like a failure at ball, he thought he lost the game, the score was 24-5, and the most he could have changed the spread was by 4 points. As an athletically challanged person I don't expect my kid to be the next Babe Ruth or anything; I want him to learn to play and to have fun. I am beginning to think that its not gonna happen this year.

Daisy's games were pretty bad too. I am not sure what got into them Saturday but they were not playing their "A" game, or "B" game, maybe "H" game. Daisy's 12 o' clock game, they lost to the Longhorns; the Longhorns had lost their 9:oo game, 17 to 1. The 3 o' clock game started really well and then completly stalled out until the last inning and we still lost 18 to 7. However there was no screaming and yelling from the coaches, even though the girls knew how to play better than that.

I realize it could be personallity, but sheesh they are just kids!

Today's t-ball game

We lost.

Junior got stung by a bee. His comment was "I knew I shouldn't have picked up that bee."

Duh!!!!!

Apparently he saw a bee near where he was standing and he stepped on it, and then picked it up. The coach thought he just had a splinter and pulled it out. Junior got to sit the rest of the game out.

chatter

We had our first ball games today. Daisy was supposed to play yesterday but it got rained out and then today's games had to be transfered to the feilds of a neighboring school system because the girls fields were too muddy. Having watched their team practice at the girls field 2 days after rain, I can tell you that the girls would be sinking in the mud and so would the balls. It almost makes me want to pull out a feminist soapbox. Especially since I pay just as much school tax as everyone else here does and the ONLY thing my daughter has used at the local school is the ball field, which is not well maintained.

Anyway, enough of that. Junior's t-ball game was . . . disappointing. I know that they are young, and several of them haven't played before but I don't think the coaches have taught them how to play. Very, very rarely would any of them throw the ball, the coaches drilled so much on the running. Several times a kid playing first base would run all the way over to third instead of throwing it. The other team was really good. When one of ours would just barely tip the ball off the tee, 3 kids from the opposing team would run up to get it. On the other hand, our team would wait until a ball rolled into their glove. If the ball went past, they would run after it but not run up to it. It was hard explaining why they lost to Junior. He was just so puzzled. Not that my kid is a great player, or even a good player. He can hit the ball really well when he is focused. He can catch when he is paying attention. He just doesn't usually.

Daisy had 2 games. The first game, they were pretty well stomped. But at least they got on the board and considering the team they were playing against, that was a pretty big deal. The second game they were losing and then they managed to come back. The final score was 14 to 15 with Daisy's team winning. This was the first game they won and the girls were so excited.

I do hate the "chatter" that goes on during these games. I just don't think there is any need for the taunting. If a team is good, they don't need it. I think I am in the minority though.

So much unsportsmanlike behavior is acceptable. Coaches will scout the teams and then call the parents before tryouts and tell the parents not to come to the draft tryouts. Then the coaches that play fair are left wondering if Alice is any good and so the coach that wants her is able to get her. In the 7 & 8 girls tryouts 1/2 of the 7 year olds weren't there and 2/3 of the 8 year olds weren't.

Honestly I just want my kids to have fun and learn how to play. Getting stomped because opposing coaches are more concerned with winning is not fun.

I need to find some pro games on TV so my kids can watch them. I am learning more than I ever new before. I still don't want to play though.