Owwww...

Ok, I haven't worked out in a loooong time. I've had 2 days of upper body workouts with dumbells and 1 day of lower body workout. I can barely move.... I used to just do crunches, and my abs would be a little sore.. now I can't even stretch with a yawn without yelping in pain,... My abs are SO SORE! But that's not all,.. my triceps feel like they were ripped off and reattached. My back is achier than normal, and it's from muscle fatigue rather than the bone pain I normally feel. (3 vert. broken in 1989 car accident- not noticed by Dr. til too late to fix)

I didn't think the lower body one would be any big deal since my legs have always been pretty strong,.. but OMG.. I can barely walk now.

So I know this strength training regimin is good for my target areas,.. now I've got to get back to the cardio. I don't go to work til 12 noon tomorrow, so I'll go to the park and walk the trail. They lengthened it, so I think I'm going to walk an extra 1/2 mile to mile and then come back to the car. (I usually walk 1 mile then return to the car for 2 miles total).
The walking trail is so great. It's clearly marked each 1/4 mile from the starting point. has flashing light crosswalks at each street, and it's being lengthened to 4 linear miles (8 total if you walk back to beginning) complete with an overpass walkway over the 4 lane busier street.

As far as calories go,.. I had about 2000 the first day, then 1800 yesterday, but I totally blew it today.
Had WAY too much chocolate at work. And Peggy refilled the candy basket!!!! ARGH. What pisses me off is that she said she's starting her diet and has to lose 25 lbs by July when she goes on vacation,.. while she's filling the candy basket. I don't think she wants to lose the weight so much as she wants us to gain more than her! I had a hamburger with no mayo and fries for lunch, so not really healthy,.. Tonight we had a good dinner, pork, veggies, no starches,.. but then i had the leftover choc pudding from last night and then I ate the Fast Break candybar Peggy had given me (grrrr).

I've got to count calories and keep it at or under 1800 a day,.. that is a LOT harder than it sounds. And I'm so sick of bottled water... Gotta keep my mind set on my goal. I WILL BE 170 lbs by August!!!

Kickstarting my weightloss

Ok, I've been overweight most of my life... and frankly I'm really tired of it. This time last year, I weighed approx 240 lbs. On july 4th of 2004 I started a vigorous exercise and weightloss program using Slimfast.com and walking the local walking track and also the Gazelle machine. I have lost 30 lbs and am at 210 now. I have been at 210 for about 4 months now actually. So today I am resetting my weight chart at slimfast.com and I am starting my new weightloss and exercise program.

I will walk at least 3 days a week for at least 40 minutes. If I can't get to the trail due to time or weather, I will walk on the gazelle OR do a 30 minute Taebo workout on DVD. In addition to this cardio workout, I will also do strength training: 3 days of upper body workouts and 3 days of lower body workouts, alternating. I am starting slow so I don't strain anything. I use 3lb weights for now and do 2 sets of 10 reps of each exercise.

I am eating only healthy foods and am not eating more than 1800 calories a day for the first 2 weeks. if the results aren't like I want, then I'll lower it to 1500 a day.

See www.planewalking.blogspot.com to see my husband's comments and photos of the last couple of days. (no need to repeat it all heh)

Wish me luck on my weightloss and I'll keep you posted on it all.

The Day Before Easter

As I've said, I work in a shoe store. Well, in addition to new dresses and dressy clothes, people always buy new shoes for Easter. They also always wait til the last minute to buy them. It wasn't too bad. The last two days have been really busy, but we had a lot of help at the store. It was actually a lot of fun since we all got to work together for a while. Fortunately, we all get along well.

The homefront isn't so great though. Yesterday, Christopher gave the girls chores to do. They had to have them done before I got home from work. If they didn't, then they couldn't dye Easter eggs. Well, We didn't dye Easter eggs... So today, there was another list of things for them to do in order to get to dye eggs. They had from 8am when they woke up til after 6pm when I got home,.. They not only DIDN'T do it, but they left the house to go out to play. I was so pissed when I got home that I got their new dresses and shoes and threatened to take them back. I was planning to take them, but Faelyn started crying. So I gave them a second,.. third,.. fourth? chance to do their chores. Then I took Zoe to the park to walk the trail before dark...

We had a good walk. I jogged a good bit of it now and then. I don't think it really burns all that many calories, but it should build muscle anyway. So afterwards, I went home. Thechores I had given them to do were mostly done. I ended up letting them keep their clothes and shoes. I made dinner (chili with cubed chicken breast, tortilla chips, salsa and fat free sourcream and salad). Then they finally got to dye eggs. Of course, with 4 of them, they each only got 3 eggs, which Faelyn swears she didn't hear.. so she was upset she didn't make her eggs as nice as they should have been... oh well.

Christopher looked really good tonight before he went to work. I don't know why I can never get a compliment to him out without it sounding bad somehow. I told him I liked the styling stuff in his hair better than his old stuff and he got upset. Men are worse than women.

So, tomorrow is Easter. My sister Connie is hosting it this year since she's got a bigger place and Mom's not feeling well. I hate Cancer,.. there is absolutely nothing good about it,... it is like the manifestation of pure evil.

Anyway, it's supposed to start thunderstorms tonight then rain and storm all day tomorrow. That really sucks too cause today was GORGEOUS. Spring really hits all of a sudden here. One week it was 20 degrees and snowing and the next, it's 76 degres and birds singing and people in shorts and flipflops. I just hope things go well tomorrow. We have to drive 45 miles and back on a temporary tire because I couldn't get it changed today. I guess I'll have to get it changed Monday morning early before I go to Morristown.

*sighs* It's been a long day. Now I'm gonna go eat more chips and salsa and watch my movie,.. finally.

I want a day off without my kids home!!!

I mean is that too much to ask? I wish I could just relax and have a cup of tea and check my email and have a bowl of cereal without having to break up fights, cook a made-to-order omlet, yell at them to go do their chores their daddy has listed for them to do. *sighs*

Ok, so today is payday, so it's bill-paying day. And since the girl we had hired and taken the time to train just up and quit, now I have to work a Night tonight at the store. So I have to be here to make sure the kids do their chores and try to relax a little in the meantime,.. then I have to figure out which bills *can* be paid and which ones have to be put off til next payday. C's check is half of what it usually is becauset ehy paid him for 3 weeks last payday. But did I pay some of this week's bills out of last paycheck... no of course not. That would have been the intelligent and responsible thing to do. So now I have over $1300 of bills to pay with just $750 and that does include my paycheck which is also short due to having jetlag so bad after my trip back from England. Anyway, then I have to go pay the bills I can pay, then go to work tonight at 4pm.

I still have the filing cabinet I had bought when I got back from England and was in an organizational mood,... it's been put together but is still sitting in front of the TV... it's supposed to be under my desk where I can actually USE it. But under my desk is where the old computer C was using when his laptop was gone. So we have to find a place to put the computer. Our bedroom closet floor would be fine, but it's full of bags of stuff that need to be sorted and see if anything will fit the kids etrc. etc. etc. *sighs* I *really* need to be in a bigger house SOON. .. Also at the same time I bought that filing cabinet, I bought cutains and a curtain rod to match the ones in the bedroom. They are supposed to go up to cover the closet (which has no door) ... and they're still sitting there. I've been home 3 weeks now


Here's another rant....

EVERY day I've had off since I got back fromthe UK has been a bad day,... I've either been called into work, or the school has called to make me get a kid from school for whatever reason. The only good ones have been Sundays, but they're not really days off. I spend the morning ranting and yelling at everyone about the state of the house when like a dozen people are coming over later... so I get a massive headache and get pissed off at the world. Then I have to (I don't really HAVE to, but I've gotta feed my family of 6 and I can't just tell everyone else they can't have any) feed the housefull of people which can usually number up to 13 in total (including their girlfriends). It amazes me that we host that many people in such a tiny space. I end up baking brownies for everyone as well, but I enjoy that (just not the cleanup afterwards.) I enjoy playing the games, I just really wish my house were clean when I woke up Sunday morning...

*sighs* Corina just realized the top to her flute is missing.... ugh. Well it's going on noon, so I'd better actually get to the bank....

Breakfast: 1 bowl of Total with skim milk

Really clever title.

I worked 9-5 today. Lots of online orders that had just been left for someone else to deal with. It really took me about all day to work on those. They boosted our sales over $1000 for the day though, and I got credit for them!

The kids were out of school today for a long-ass break for Easter. When I was a kid, we got out Friday-Sun and that was it. My kids were out of school today (Thursday) and don't go back til April 5 (Over a week AFTER Easter is over!) I just don't get it. Anyway, they managed to make life miserable for Christopher. They were so loud and obnoxious he didn't get any real sleep. They have no respect for either of us and it really annoys the hell out of me. I had told Corina (my 12 year old - oldest of the 4 ) that she had to wash the dishes today (there was maybe 2 sinkfulls) , and then she should do some laundry since they complained about not having any clothes for school yesterday. I told her not to get on the computer til that was done. I got home from work today and she was sitting at my computer and hadn't washed ANY dishes! she says she "forgot" What's sad is she's telling the truth. It might be easier to take if she deliberately didn't do anything,.. but her brain simply shuts down when it comes to anything other than talking to friends or listening to music or somethng she wants to do. The rest of the world just doesn't exist,.. much less matter to her. What is *really* infuriating is that I was exactly the same way and my mother cursed me with my clone! "I hope you have a daughter just like you someday!" ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got the tire fixed on the car. It was Oh So difficult to call the garage and have a guy come change the tire. I really wish Christopher would get over his phone phobia. It can be REALLY annoying. But then, I'm learning to live with a lot of really annoying things in my life. Like I have a choice.

After I got home, Christopher and I went out to do his job he does for his mom and I bought 2 movies from Blockbuster Something's Gotta Give and Calendar Girls I can't wait to see the second one. I saw the first one at the theatre twice, It is SO funny!!! Afterwards, we went grocery shopping. We're doing the "healthy" thing now. More veggies and fruits than ever before. This family has been living on TONS of pasta and too much red meat. Now, we're going to eat so many veggies, we'll barely have room for anyting else. We've switched to chicken and pork, no more red meat. I am going to try lots of new recipes and I'm even going to learn to cook fish - other than deep frying it in beer batter...

So tonight we had dirty rice with ground pork, nice, but a tad spicey. We also had green beans with a fresh salsa mixture... garlic, onions, tomatoes, spices and a family size bag of frozen green beans. There's actually leftovers! For dessert, we had fresh papaya and pineapple that we peeled and sliced up. That was fun... I miss chocolate,.. but I've got to lose 40-50 lbs,.. so I've got to remember that.

Ok, guess that's about it. The kids are finally going unconscious in their beds,... maybe I can watch my movie tonight.

Let's get this started

Ok, well since my husband (Christopher) decided to do this, I figured, oh what the hell.

I'm 34, will be 35 this year. I have been married for 13 years and have 4 daughters. I work full time as an assistant manager at a locally owned shoe store. Did I always want to be a 34 year old ast mgr of a shoe store.... no. I had wanted to be a pilot and an archaeologist when I was younger. Then my dad told me I should be an accountant. So I went to college to study accounting. I hated it. I dropped out. Now I have no college degree and here I am, a working mother of 4 girls. I'm not really as bitter as I sound. I do have some good days. Maybe this blog can be an incentive for someone out there to strive for their dreams, no matter what other people tell you what you should do.