Not Good!!!

Oh man oh man......

today I caught myself resting

my coffee cup

on my belly...

and I was sitting up!!

If I were lying down

that would be fine.

I WAS SITTING UP!

Clearly it is time for...

and...

Exercise Is Good, Exercise Is Good, Exercise Is Good.......

Oh Boat Posture, how I

love/hate you!!

&

¡ʎʞɔıɹʇ ƃuıƃƃoןq sǝʞɐɯ ʎןןɐǝɹ ƃop pɹɐʍuʍop

Good-Bye Oinker

This morning I did not allow myself to open my Mac until I had done some yoga stretches for 20 minutes. That's right, I am bribing myself with laptop time to get myself to exercise. It is seriously time to get rid of my extra poundage that makes me feel like a flying piggie rather than a flying butterfly!

An important deadline is usually a good motivation for me and I have a doozy coming up in a few months. Writer Son is getting married on 10/10/10 !! (Fun wedding date huh?) Wedding photos that last forever! Pictures that are passed around and sent sailing through the internet to who knows how many people! Meeting my son's new inlaws.....and photos, photos, photos!!

Can you hear the panic in my voice? Not so long ago I was a faithful exerciser, but this Mac, (yes, I am blaming an inanimate object!) has really thrown me off course. My free time after work used to be full of a variety of things.....cleaning, reading, walking, yoga & exercise bike. But now, it's all about the Mac & Face Book & you ,my bloggy friends. (Ok, now I am actually blaming you! Pretty low right?)

So yes, I am going to try to move this body around a bit after work each day before coming to visit you all. Getting up earlier does not make sense because I am already getting up at 6am in order to be at work by 7:30 and I am often home by 3 in the afternoon, so there is time after work. I just don't usually feel like doing anything but sitting after a busy work day full of people. Unfortunately, when I sit down to visit the internet I often stay there for hours! It is often work stuff on my laptop at first, letters to interested students etc. But then it is so dang easy to slip on over to FB or blogger and tada...it is 3 hours later!

Today I began getting back into shape by just doing a bunch of stretches so I won't hurt myself. Tomorrow I'll get back to the basic moves and push myself more everyday, including getting back on my exercise bike. I do not have a scale but my jeans & the mirror do a great job of condemning me into realizing that I'm in trouble.

Does my confessing this all to you help me? We will see........

ps ......I googled "Fat people" while looking for a picture for this post........Do not ever do that ok? Not good....very bad images are now in my head!!

My New Vehicle!

I told you yesterday that we had two new vehicles. Hubs found a "cute" '83 Mustang, which is making Hubs pretty sad right now. (Tell you about that in a minute!) Well, MY new vehicle is a very old (but free!) stationary bike for me to get some aerobic exercise on! I am very happy & excited about it. I love doing my yoga work-out but my fitness fanatic friends keep bugging me that yoga is not enough to get my heart pumping, which is what I need right now.This is my view when I use the bike in the backyard, nice huh? I just got it last night & used it this morning before it got too hot & I think I'll be able to stick with this. Hope so anyway! I would love to figure out a way to read a book while on it, that would help time go faster. I know it is pretty old fashioned & clunky compared to what are in the gyms now but it was free & I don't do gyms. If I get too bored I will repeat my mantra: swimsuit - swimsuit - swimsuit! Ha!

Regarding hubs bad news on his "new" Mustang, he took it in to be smog tested this morning & it has a "cam" or "kam", I obviously don't know what that is. But it will not meet smog requirements around here & it would take a ridiculous amount of money to get it to street legal! So sad! So he is going to have to sell it. He is now in mourning because he bought this thing 3 months ago & it has been at a friends house being worked on all this time & Hubs has been happily buying stock radio, dash covers, gear shift knob, etc. for weeks now. We just got it brought to our house 2 days ago. I really feel bad for him. We have 1 car & 1 motorcycle, so a 2nd car is needed & we thought it would be cool to have a "cool" 2nd car.

Actually, he loves the "hunt" just as much as the purchase, so he'll be ready to continue searching for the right 2nd car before the week end is over, I bet. But to say that to him at this moment would be like telling someone whose dog just died that they can easily replace it! :0 I'm just going to smile sadly at him & let him get there on his own.

Exercise is Evil!

I really, really hate the

lizard

on my exercise video!!

I Don't Like.....

I am working on a fabulous Barbie post to celebrate her 50th birthday but company is arriving any time now & I hate to get interrupted in the middle of something so important! In the meantime I want to say that I do not like the change that Blogger made to the "Followers" section. I used to be able to click on a followers face/icon to see what they are doing in their blog or whatever but now it does not go to their blog at all! Very frustrating! Why'd they change it?

I am doing the 30 x 5 Challenge & I'm doing ok so far. Today I worked out for 40 minutes! Tomorrow, Sunday will be tricky for me cause I love to just veg after getting home from church & lunch about 3 or 4pm. Yah, our lunches are long due to all the talking, laughing & what-not that our friends do together on Sundays. Besides that is probably when I will be in the mood to give you my Barbie post!

What??

I'm confused! For the last 6 weeks I have intentionally & carefully changed my diet to include lots of vegies & fruit & less bad (good) stuff. I have also worked out at least 3 times a week. The great result so far is that my long lost waist line has made an appearance again & my jeans & blouses fit much better. I look less hippy than that header pic on this website. :)

That's all wonderful but I do not own a scale so I was actually excited to go to the Doc for normal lady stuff this last week & hop up on the scale & enjoy the number for a change. I HAD GAINED A POUND!! What's up with that?

Here I Sit

Ok I'm sitting here in my comfy chair & reading blog after blog after blog & laughing & smiling as I travel around to all the amazing women out here in internet-land! But just down the hall & within my eyesight the exsercise mat is calling me because we have not been together for THREE DAYS! Not good at all, because that means I'm going to be all stiff now & have to warm up longer in order to do anything harder.

So I keep saying to myself, "One more site then that's it!" But the next site mentions someone else & I may never know about them again & never get back there. This is just so fun & eye-opening to see how others live & think. I'm reading new moms & wishing I had this outlet when my boys were little. I'm seeing creative decorating ideas & dieting plans & funny stories that make me think about some of my own funny happenings & then wonder if I should try sharing them with you all.

So here I sit hanging out with unknown "friends" & being totally excited that I actually got TEN comments today! Woo-hoo! :) It's almost 5 pm on a Friday & I am not commuting or closing up a store or church office. I am in my beautiful home & hearing the birds singing out my window & wondering what to eat for dinner. I'm thinking that Mr. Yoga Mat is going to have to wait for saturday morning for our next get together.

And I blame you all.

New Yoga Room!

Yay for a new yoga room! My oldest son moved into his own apartment this last week, for the second & hopefully final time! We love him lots, he is the easiest person to live with but at 26 it is much healthier for all of us that he be on his own, right? Right!
Anyway we had his room all redone & decorated with our collected items from traveling to China, Fiji & the Phillipines, the FIRST time he moved out & then had to watch it get all full of guy garbage when he had to come back for a bit. Stacks of cds, comics, underwear, drums and computer stuff defintely changed the ambience of the space if you know what I mean. And the aroma!
Now that he is moved out, just in the next town about 8 miles away, we have our beautiful contemplative room returned to us slightly worse for wear. (That gray smudge on the white wall came off easily enough with some 409 cleaner. ) And I am happily using it to do my yoga workout in the early mornings before anyone is up! I just roll my little purple yoga mat out on the straw floor covering & I am all set.
Why does this make me so happy? Keep in mind that yoga or any exersice for that matter takes concentration & calmness to stick with it & not get distracted. I have been doing my workout in my bedroom during the day (on my days off) or evenings while the rest of our 4 person family were doing other things around the house. When I would stretch out on the mat for the floor portion of the workout it would feel so sweet to stretch this way & that until I opened my eyes & came face to face with the bunny size dust bunnies under my bed! Yuck, how do they multiply & grow so fast? I don't get it! (I have discovered that this is one distinct dis-advantage to having all hardwood floors in the house.)
I also had trouble with the balancing poses. To lean way over on one leg with both arms out by your sides can be tricky when you keep crashing into the closet door or bed on either side. Of course now I am really going to have to BALANCE! Yikes! Anyway between the grossness under my bed & the falling into my closet, it was not a terribly peace-enhancing, mind relaxing endeavor.
But now I have eliminated my last excuse for lack of exercise, oops!

Downward Dog

Downward Dog
Recently a doctor visit gave me some real motivation to get serious about getting myself healthy through more exercise. My husband & I actually walked in the park twice a day for a whole two days in a row….but I got blisters on my heels & could not continue our well intentioned regimen, long-standing though it was!

So I have come back to my favorite way of getting a work-out though I still need to add some “cardio” to it according to my health-crazed friends. YOGA! It feels great & it is more challenging than you may think. I use a DVD set that I found in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart. The teacher is Shelly McDonald & I was relieved to hear that her voice is not as high-pitched & overly cheerful as some I listened to online. Can you imagine starting your day getting screeched at? No thanks. There are some definite pros & cons for using a video instead of going to a class or gym.

Pro – A video is much cheaper than a class. Can’t beat the $5 bin at Wal-Mart!
Con – I have now memorized every single comment & joke she makes. And every mistake. “Cross your left ankle over your left leg”??

Pro – You do it alone. No one is looking at your butt while doing the downward dog.
Con – You do it alone. I went to a yoga class for a while & the laughter & communal groans are encouraging. Going out for ice cream afterwards is always a treat too!

Some of the things my teacher says make me answer her back & roll my eyes which could be considered exercising my eyes right? For instance;

“Yoga is about the journey, not the result.” Umm no, I can think of many things I could be doing right now that have nothing to do with “Being a tree growing towards the sun.”

“Yoga is all about the here & now.” Well, for me it’s about looking better in a swimsuit & not losing my breath on the stairs at work.

“Just do whatever feels right to you at this point in time.” Sitting in front of the TV watching “What Not To Wear” feels right to me at this point in time!

Another Pro - I can do it anywhere & any time of the day I choose, all I need is my laptop.
The Con – My lap top is extremely distracting. I often end up doing the warm up stretches while reading my Myspace messages. Is that wrong?

She also says, “Place your feet not too wide apart; just as wide as your hips.” That one always makes me laugh!! Has she seen my hips?

“Now send your breath to the back of your thighs.” Huh? Go breath go! Get back there, I mean it!

The worst moments are when the camera moves to a beautiful scene like the ocean or a gecko on a tree. That means she has me holding a hard pose for a looooong time! Like the one she calls “a fierce warrior position” which is actually a squatting pose that reminds me of using the squatty potty on the moving train in China. Not a peaceful memory! I get a picture of the Chinese man who leered at me when I passed him to enter the bathroom during the night on the train. I had my socks on because I had been in my bed & as I stepped into the tiny room I realized why he was snickering at me. The floor of the entire bathroom was extremely wet due to some people with really bad aim! Peaceful, tranquil thoughts people!

Shelly McDonald also has to remind me to get my heels to touch the floor. Who ever would have thought that getting your heels to stay on the floor would be so hard? But ouch, that “downward dog” feels so good but can hurt so bad!

Speaking of feeling good; my favorite phrase she purrs to me is this one;

“Ok, now rest in child position, great job, see you next time!”