Retirement

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

The other day my hubby and I were talking about the future, you know what we want to do when retire.  Stuff like that. You always picture yourself living forever, being able to do whatever you want, even when you are older. But the thing is, if you don't take care of yourself, you may not be able to do all that you thought you would be able to. For example, I look at some people who have a hard time going up and down stairs, or people who can't take their dog for a walk, and they are only just starting their golden years!

I want to enjoy my abled body while I still can, and hopefully if I take care of myself I will be able to still do these things when I retire and until I am REALLY old. That's what motivates me today. 

RANT OR RAVE

Can I just say that I am particularly liking my kickboxing classes these days, and not just for the activity, but for the mental boost that I get when I go. This week I didn't get to make it as much as I wanted, but it's nice to know when I do go people are glad to see me there - and I'm happy to see them. 

RANDOMS

Ok, so lately since Maya has been crawling, she has been finding herself in all kinds of new poses and postures. She tries to climb on everything and pull herself up, but sometimes she gets stuck. You know how when you climb a tree and then can't get back down? It's kind of like that. She will get stuck and then she starts making this high pitched noise to let me know she needs some help. Sometimes it looks like she is doing yoga poses and is struggling to keep it going. A few times I had the camera nearby and took some pictures. Isn't she the funniest? 

Here she was trying to climb up on the couch but ended up leaning on her one hand and her knees with nowhere to go. She was quite distressed about this one. She didn't know how to get up, and didn't know how to get down!

Here she climbed up on a little step stool and was able to stand on her legs but was frozen after that. Her arms started shaking a bit as if to say, "Mom, if you don't get me out of this soon I am going to completely collapse on my face!". 

Here she got herself up from the floor to look out the window but didn't anticipate that her legs would slowly begin sliding farther and farther apart until she was doing the splits. She was quickly losing momentum when I rescued her. 

On the up side I think all this physical activity is helping her sleep better at night cause she is not getting up nearly as much as she used to!

No Resolutions

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

The place that I go to cardio kickboxing is closed for two weeks over the holidays. Before the holidays they kept encouraging everyone to come out and give it their best before the end of the year so they can enjoy their holidays. In the mean time they have these online videos you can follow so that you can keep on top of things, so I am going to check them out. 

The biggest thing motivating me today is I don't want to go back in the new year all floddy doddy jiggly from not working out for two weeks. So that is what I am thinking about right now. I want to go back feeling strong. I also don't want to have to make any New Year's resolutions because I will already be working towards my goals. 

RANT OR RAVE

Teething baby? Not-so-much-fun! Getting in the way of our sleep again. Very hard to stay motivated on a Sunday when you are sleep deprived. The other thing is, I'm kinda a bit cranky because I have discovered a few other foods that are a no-no for me right now that I usually eat on a regular basis and so I am really getting sick of eating a lot of the same things. 

But the biggest thing is, some of the foods I used to take for granted I can no longer enjoy at the moment and I didn't think it was going to be that hard but lately I would just love to have a cup of hot chocolate or a piece of garlic bread. This will pass, but today it is makin' me a bit cranky. 

RANDOMS

Maya met Santa for the first time this weekend. I thought for sure she was going to cry, but she didn't. She just kinda did her little bewildered look that she sometimes gets. And she wouldn't give up Sophie. 

 She liked opening her present and even shared with some of her cousins afterwards.

For Insurance Purposes

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

Another hectic day. Maya is still sick. Somehow I have barely sat down today and yet I can't even say that I got a whole lot accomplished other than grocery shopping, dinner made, you know, the usual stuff.   I ran off to kickboxing this morning and didn't even have time to sit down and write about my daily reason for motivation. Now it's almost nine o'clock and I just got finished putting the humidifier in Maya's room (poor babe!). But this is what I have been thinking about all day:

The other day my hubby and I were answering some general health questions for purposes of life insurance. You know, when they ask you if you have any history of this and that, so on and so forth.  It was very minimal coverage and we didn't have to give that much information. But in the past, we have had to undergo more extensive health screening for some of the policies we purchased. That included having to answer questions about weight, etc.  When I was pregnant for Maya I HATED having to do those medicals because I was at such an awful weight. Even though they consider the fact that you are pregnant and do not always weigh that much, I still always hated having to say the number. 

This time around, I was grateful that I wouldn't have to report such a high number. But still, I am not yet at a healthy weight (according to the BMI) so I am going to keep working towards more weight loss. So today, whenever I felt like straying from the plan I remembered how good it will feel when I can just answer a question about my weight without wincing. 

RANT OR RAVE

You know what I like? When you get partnered up with someone at kickboxing and you punch faster and harder than them. When you see them huffing and puffing and can't finish and you are like "wham" and keep going strong. 

I know you are only supposed to compete with yourself blah blah blah, but sometimes it's nice to have a little healthy competition. 

RANDOMS

Chris just e-mailed this to me and I think it's pretty cool. He is a difficult person to buy gifts for and it's nice when he sends me ideas. 

It's this lottery calendar where you buy it for someone and they have a chance to win money every day of the year. If you live in Ontario, check it out!  And it's for a great cause. Such a great idea. 

I also came across this site the other day where you can order a puzzle with your picture on it. Apparently this is not a new concept and there are tons of sites that do this. My grandma is a big fan of puzzles so guess what she's getting this year? 

Ok now I have to go catch up on some old school 90210 on Netflicks. Ciao for now!

I'm Doing The Best I Can

TODAYS MOTIVATION

Ok. So today kind of got away from me. Busy, busy, busy. You know how it is. Needless to say, I have not had time to sit down and write about a reason to stay motivated today until this evening. It's now a quarter to eleven and I am just sitting down with my feet up.  

Here's the update:

Well, I finally made it back to kickboxing yesterday. I plan to go again tomorrow morning. People always talk about how much of an impact sleep, food, and exercise has on your moods.  I have really been noticing how this is true in my life lately.  I got lots of sleep Monday night and so yesterday (Tuesday) was a totally different day. I was able to stick to my meal plan no problem, even when I went to the movies and the coffee shop with my bestie that night. If it had been a different day where I was sleep deprived or sick or whatever other stress going on, I would have been much more tempted to cave and eat something unhealthy. Also since I made it to kickboxing I am not feeling nearly as blobby as I was before. And you know how it is, once you get back into it, there is much more energy to be had during the day. I was also able to sleep in until eight o'clock this morning which was nice after being up with Maya three times last night. The only downfall today was that I was so busy I didn't make it to the grocery store and so my dinner was not exactly a hundred percent part of my meal plan. For example I had pasta for dinner even though I had already had toast that morning (one of the rules of my meal plan is I'm only allowed one serving of whole grain pasta or bread a day).  But it could have been a lot worse. At least I got all my fruit and veggies in today. 

So today I have just been going on sheer energy from the boost of sleep and exercise I have gotten in the past two days, hence the busy-ness.  I'm hoping the high energy continues for the rest of the week. I've also realized that I've got to stop being so hard on myself sometimes cause I am doin' the best I can with what I have, really I am. 

RANT OR RAVE

Ok this is kind of a rant and rave all in one. You may remember me talking about turning off the TV in my household this summer.  Well I wasn't really missing it a whole lot, the only time I really turned it one was when the new season of Grey's Anatomy started.  

But then my husband asked for Apple TV for his birthday this year and since it is difficult to find gift ideas for him I went ahead and hooked him up with his wish. Aaaannnd, then he immediately signed up for Netflicks. Yeah. It is pretty cool.  Since we've had it I have been catching up on old shows like 90210 and newer ones like Weeds. It's getting to the point where I am watching TV almost every day. Not a big deal except the fact that it makes me lazy and it makes me stay up later when Maya goes to bed. This is also a bad combination with the fact that it's getting colder outside and we won't be going for walks much, and we are going to be a lot more housebound - which results in even more television viewing. Uh-oh - better get a treadmill to put in front of the TV!

RANDOMS

Can I just say that I love buying random cute baby stuff for Maya once in a while?  A friend of ours owns the cutest little baby store called Rattle and Stroll. When you go in there you want to just say, "I'll take one of everything!".  They only have a few locations not very close to where we live which is probably a good thing or I would be in there all the time.  But they have a website where you can order all kinds of goodies - check it out. Anyhoo, when we were in their area a few weeks ago I picked up a few things.

Here's a closer look at the way-too-cute hair clips:

And aren't these bags the most adorable things you have ever put a lunch in?

I couldn't resist buying the owl one!

This growth chart is one you can stick right on the wall and peel it off if you don't want it anymore. I have always wanted a growth chart for Maya's nursery but could never get my hands on one until now. 

I cannot wait to look back on how much she is growing. 

And while we're on the subject of cute things for babies to wear on their heads - remember me talking about how much I love babies wearing hoodies? Well the same goes for winter hats, or any hat for that matter.  This one I picked up at the grocery store a while back. 

If cuteness could kill, I would have been dead the minute I laid eyes on my precious baby girl....but seriously, having a daughter to play dress up with is the greatest...and I'm soaking it all up before she decides to have a mind of her own!

Back Into It

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

Well I am getting back to kickboxing today. I didn't get to go when I was in Nova Scotia and then when I was back I was sick and my husband had laser eye surgery so we mostly just stayed home. I am glad to get back into it because I feel like such a blob. Going always gets me motivated again so I'm hoping today will be a good class!

RANT OR RAVE

Right now I am watching my baby girl sitting on the floor doing nothing. She was playing with her toys and then all of a sudden just stopped and started looking around and thinking intensely about something. Then I sat there staring at her wondering what she could be thinking about. "A penny for your thoughts?" I said in my head. Then I realized that sitting with her and watching her is one of the most relaxing things. Then she started staring back at me and we just had a staring contest. We didn't talk to each other we were just watching each other. My camera was sitting next to me so I took a picture cause she is just so gosh darn cute.  

This morning I have been feeling a bit stressed for not any particular reason other than usual life stuff and that was all forgotten when Maya and I were just "being",  just hangin' out,  just sitting together in the quiet.  So I guess my point is, when you are stressed, don't underestimate the power of an eight month old's ability to take it all away just by a look. 

RANDOMS

I started working on my christmas stockings .  Let me tell you, this is taking ALOT longer than I thought it would. I really thought this would be a simple project - cut out a few pieces of fabric and sew them together - and then done. Yeah..... notsomuch. 

You see, I decided I wanted to make them kind of fancy by embroidering our names on them, but the tutorial I was following didn't account for these extra steps and it kind of messed up things a bit.

First of all, it took forever to try to figure out exactly how to space the names on the cuffs of the stockings.  Then, it took even longer to actually do the embroidering that I learned to do from this video.   I seriously thought it would take like five minutes for each word but it was more like five minutes for each letter until I got the hang of it. 

Then I decided I wanted to do some kind of embellishments so I picked up some buttons at the store and tried to add them. 

But the big problem was when I was done, the buttons just didn't end up in the right places and the loop on the top of the stocking was facing the wrong direction. So I ended up with these two as my finished product.

I didn't like it so I took the buttons off and I did some rearranging and ended up with this. 

Ok it looks a bit better but now the names are way on the top of the cuff instead of in the centre of the cuff where I originally wanted them.  So I gave up and walked away from the sewing machine because I knew it was only going to get worse the more frustrated I got. 

I'm gonna go back at it hopefully today or tomorrow and eventually I will have beautiful stockings to hang by the fire place, so wait for an update and a picture when they are all done!

Meanwhile, my dining room still looks like this....

And can I just tell you that the only way to get things done around here anymore is to do five to ten minute chunks of things at a time. The days of taking on a project and getting it done in one day are over. Maya keeps us on our toes and I have had to do a lot of this in between feeding, changing, playing,   cleaning, etc.  Sometimes I wait until she is in bed and then go to town on a project but then usually by that time of day I am tired and not at my peak performance. No wonder it is taking so long to get these things right!

Pat On The Back

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

I have written about a few bad days that I have had where I strayed from my meal plan. Well today I thought I would write about some good days. I have been going to a lot of family stuff in the past few months and when I plan ahead for these times I have been successful. For example, last night I had dinner with the fam for my brother's birthday. In my family whenever my Mom makes a birthday dinner the birthday person gets to pick what the meal is. My brother picked tasty calzones, but since that was just too complicated for my meal plan at the moment I brought a chicken salad to have instead. I also brought a few snacks to keep me from getting too hungry and it worked out well. As tempting as the cake was I was able to enjoy a nice juicy grapefruit instead for dessert. I'm not completely giving up all desserts, but I am really trying to keep things in moderation, so more often than not I pass it up. You may be thinking, "Well can't you at least just enjoy a piece of cake on such an occasion as your brother's birthday?". Well the thing is, this is just the beginning of five other birthdays on my side of the family before the end of November - my niece, my husband, my other brother, my Dad, and mine -  I have to keep in check!  Not to mention Christmas comes after that!  Although I will definitely be having some cake on my birthday this year, being a milestone birthday and all! Anyway, my point is, when I plan ahead I set myself up for success. And since I have been complaining a bit on here about when I am failing, I thought it was also important to give myself credit for all the times I have done well. I should also throw in there that I have been making it to kickboxing pretty consistently this past month as well. So today that has what has been keeping me going - giving myself a pat on the back for a job well done!

RANT OR RAVE

Speaking of kickboxing, sometimes there are classes where you have to partner up with others for a portion of the class.  I know a few people in my class but most of the time I get paired up with a random stranger. I really hate it when you get stuck with a crappy partner. You know, the ones who aren't really all that willing to learn and only give a half assed effort? These people totally bring me down. I am too nice to say anything to them like "get off your butt and work it!", so I just sigh and put up with it and then try to avoid them at all costs the next time. 

NOTE TO SELF

Skype

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

A while ago I complained about looking bad in pictures and talked about seeing my reflection.  Well Maya and I like to talk to her relatives via Skype. It's a cool thing to have when people live far away. The only thing is, I have to look at myself in the video window and it is like experiencing both of the above simultaneously. 

I know I'm not the only person who hates seeing themselves on Skype. My motivation today is to be able to one day not be self conscious about these things. 

RANT OR RAVE

A new session of cardio kickboxing starts today. I'm excited to get back into it after a week and a half break.

Now if I can only get my butt there, then the rest will be easy.

NOTE TO SELF

Fat Girl In A Skinny Class

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

At my cardio kickboxing classes, there is a mirror that runs all along the main wall, which is natural for such a place.  A lot of the members sort of line up along the opposite wall, sitting on the benches, stretching, waiting for the prior class to end. We are usually all side by side, looking at ourselves in the mirror during the process. This is the time when I often get to see how I measure up to the others. Since a place like this is usually full of skinny fit people, I often feel like I stick out from the crowd. I find myself feeling even fatter than I am in comparison to everyone else. It's only natural right? When I do see a person or two who is the same as me, it's not as bad. On the other hand, although I view myself in this way, I always tell myself that it is better to be the fat girl at a workout class than it is to be the fat girl in a crowd somewhere else. At least here I am doing something about it. I know it won't always be like this. I can kick, punch, and jump like the rest of them, but some day soon I will be a skinny girl who can kick, punch, and jump! And I will kick, punch, and jump even higher and stronger than ever before.

RANT OR RAVE

Ok I know that zillions of parents have had the same woes since the dawn of time but I'm going to complain anyway. Sleep deprivation is like slow and painful torture. When you hear your little one crying for the fifth time during the night, after you finally have just reached that state where you have fallen asleep, it's absolutely MADDENING!  When it happens repeatedly you seriously begin to forget whether you are awake or dreaming. A lot of times you end up accidentally knocking the lamp onto the floor or tripping over the rug and you hear yourself cursing up a storm as you nurse or rock your sweet baby back to sleep. There is a book - a children's book for parents let's say, written about just this sort of thing. Any parent who has read it is surely nodding their heads and saying "Amen!" to the words in the book. My little itty bitty was sleeping through the night starting at Eight weeks old. The whole time she was just probably laughing on the inside because she knew that as soon as her Daddy and I started to get used to having solid chunks of sleeping hours she would switch it up and decide to get up at all hours of the night, you know, just to keep us on our toes. A few pivotal points in her plan were when she decided to get up at 3:30am the morning of her Aunt's wedding, a very important day to her Mommy, and not go back to sleep at all. Another was this past week where she felt compelled to scream bloody murder if she is not being held or rocked at a moment's notice in the night. On top of that, gas and an ear infection has left her especially clingy and whiney during the last few days, often resulting in a lack of quality naps.  Any day that Daddy would normally be able to help out, has been taken away from Mommy due to "overtime" and "paid duties". Yes, you may say, it's my fault, I rock her too much, I don't let her cry long enough, I shouldn't have given her rice cereal,  I do this, I don't do that. But oh my goodness I am trying my best and let me tell ya this lack of sleep is really affecting my work-outs and my overall sanity. The lack of sleep thing honestly never really bothered me much until these past three weeks. I usually took it in stride, knowing that it was all part of the job, however lately I just can't seem to shake the tortured feeling. But then each day comes, and the sun rises, and my cute adorable little girl smiles at me and all is forgiven, and we get on with our day. 

NOTE TO SELF

Not So Picture Perfect

TODAY'S MOTIVATION

Ok, so there are two kinds of motivation. Things that you are motivated to achieve and things that you are motivated to change. Today, I am thinking about something I want to change:

Yowser! Look at that sausage arm and double chin! As much as it hurts to post such a picture of myself I just have to get real. Now, I know that I don't look like this in every picture. The timing of the picture and the angle are not flattering at all. But it doesn't matter. We all have them. Fat pictures. Those moments when we are on vacation or at a special event and later have to deal with what we actually looked like through the eyes of others (thanks to the pictures that were taken of us).

Here are a few more that have been taken of me lately.

Nothing like a dose of reality to smack me in the face and remind me just how bad I'm getting.  It's like the real me has completely disappeared and has been taken over by some fat stranger. 

So any time I feel like straying from a healthy meal plan today I will have these images ingrained in my mind. I will remind myself that I wasn't always like this and can get back to the real me if I really want to. Good bye sausage arms. You have been in my life for too long! 

RANT OR RAVE

Today is a rave.  I just love cardio kickboxing. It is the only place I can go and think about just myself for a whole hour. Even on days that I am dragging my butt, as soon as I finish a class I am so glad I went. 

Source: Krista Kersey's Cardio Kickboxing

I am grateful that I have some sort of physical activity that I actually look forward to most days and that I enjoy. Some people just really hate to exercise. I am glad that I am not one of those people. I feel sorry for those people. It doesn't make them a bad person, it just sucks that they have to try so hard to do something they hate. Now, if I could just get some of my friends to fork out some money and join classes with me....then they would be even better. 

NOTE TO SELF