Getting out the door is the first step

Lately I am having a hard time getting myself to work out.  Once I start, I'm usually great, but getting moving has been a challenge.  I really don't know why.  Is it that the weather's been colder than it had been lately? Because I have so many crafty things I want to do at home? Because I am getting so close to my goal weight? I think I'm going to have to figure this out.


To get through times like this, I try to employ the "fifteen minute rule". I tell myself, "just start, and if you want to quit after 15 minutes, you can". I've never quit once I started.


It took me over an hour to get myself out the door this past Sunday, but after about five minutes, I was fine.  I've been spending my Sunday mornings going on a nice easy longish run. My "Easy Like Sunday Morning Run"  I run around downtown Royal Oak and through some of my favorite neighborhoods. I particularly enjoy window shopping. I saw this cute BlueQ tote in the window at Shine.  I have to go back and grab it.  

Sunday was a 50 minute easy run, which only burned 350 calories.  I cannot remember the exact route I took (I always do a different route on Sundays), but I think it was about 4.5 miles.  It's a little too easy and next week I need to step it up a bit.  I think the problem was that I was listening to The Hunger Games on Audible.  I was so into it I was barely moving. 

I was running late and had not prepared breakfast.  I decided I'd try a Subway breakfast after the morning rush was done at work.  At about 10 am, things slowed down, so I ran to Subway.  I had never had their breakfast, so it was all new to me.  I liked it, but it was too much food.  I got a 6 in flat bread.  Next time I will get the English muffin or breakfast size flat bread. 

The size didn't stop me from eating it all.  I got the egg white, ham, turkey, salt, pepper, olives, spinach, tomato, banana pepper, cucumbers, bell peppers, light onion and provolone.  It was really good, but sat like a rock in my stomach.  Still, according to the website, it was just 350 calories.  I certainly will be getting breakfast there again. 

While I was disappointed in my super lazy run, my muscles were still fresh and ready for GoBarbell.   One of the owners, Jimmy, was the instructor. He usually does not teach the GoBarbell classes that I go to, so I was interested in how it would go. I have only been to his spin classes, and they are my favorite- so I expected this class would be good.  He did not disappoint.  One of the reasons I like his classes so much is he does NOT do the workout with you.  He will show you what to do, but he focuses on watching and teaching.  You can also hear him because he's not short of breath because he's trying to get his workout in too. I have some hearing loss, so I really appreciate being able to hear the instructor.

I know some people feel the opposite.  They don't respect the instructor if they are not doing the workout too.  Not an issue for me.  I figure, I'm paying you to train and teach me, work out on your own time. That sounds harsh.  I don't mean it to.  I have great classes when the instructor does the work out too, I just prefer it when they focus mostly on the student.  Anyway, it was a fun class. Two of my friends from work were there, I felt great and did well. It was April 1st and at one point Jimmy says, "50 push-ups- not on your knees". I'm like "what?".  I waited for the "April Fools". It never came.

He said we could take breaks if needed. I was surprised that I did 25, then 20, then the last 5.  Three months ago I could not do a single real push up. It feels really good to be where I am.  And I look forward to being able to do all 50 without a break.

GoBarbell burned 300 calories and the run was 350, so I had 650 for the day. 

I swung into Holiday Market for my usual Sunday Salad, but I felt like something else.  I ended up with Sunday Shrimp.  No, I did not chose it for the "S", but I do like getting shrimp when I am away from my kids.  Mack is allergic to shellfish so I don't eat it when he is at all near. I ordered grilled pesto shrimp with sides of asparagus and garlic string beans.  Very good.  And expensive.  Over $10.00.  Not sure if it's worth it or not.  I could have sworn I took a picture of it, but I don't see one.  Sorry. He's a picture of one of my crazy kids jumping on the sofa instead. Delish!

I was sore Monday, which was a good thing.  I took an easy 3 mile run for 250 calories and did some stretching.  Again, it was another super slow run while trying to finish up the Hunger Games.

Tuesday brought me back to GoBarbell's 5 am class. Lisa, the other owner, taught it and wow!  I knew from Sunday's class that I needed to increase my barbell weight.  I had used two tens and Tuesday I added a 2.5 to each side for a 5 lb increase.  The increased weight was tough and Lisa was super tough.  We went non-stop for 45 minutes.  No breaks.  300 calories burned, though I am sure my muscles kept burning for awhile.  

That afternoon I went to the gym and did my mile repeat workout.  I tweaked it so that each mile is done in under 8 minutes.  This kicked my butt, but I loved it.  I did a half mile warm up and half mile cool down, then four 1 mile repeats, with apx 3 min of walking in between.  Burned 540 calories. 

I've posted the workout on it's own post, right after this, so that it's easier to get to and pull up on a smart phone. 

I think I am going to quit listening to anything during my runs.  Books distract me and while music helps (I LOVE running to The Like), the headphones, cords, iPhone armband and all that drives me nuts! I'm constantly annoyed by a cord pulling or poking or getting in my way.  The benefit from the music just does not outweigh the annoyance.  Unless I can figure something else out, I'm done with it. 

Do you listen to anything when you work out?

Music or books?

How do you deal with the cords?

How many push ups can you do? 

Do your kids jump on your sofa too? How do you get them to stop, when it seems to fun? 

Where did the week go?

I have not posted in a week!  Lot's to catch up on.
First-How did last week go? And by last week, I mean 14 days ago last week...like March 19-25.
I lost 1.5 lbs.Calories burned: 3590. Minutes of working out: 455.  I'm pleased.

I'm also making a change- I will start weighing in on Monday, because it fits better with MFP and my workout plans. It just so happens that I could also use another day before weighing in this week.

Workout Plan for March 26-April 1 vs. What I did.

Usually, on Sunday, I write what I plan to do the upcoming week and on the next Sunday I would say what I really did. Since this is 7 days late, I'll combine them. 

Mon: Off/ off as planned
Tues: March Circuit Workout/Did it- 80 min/600 calories-woot!
Wed: The Class (from now on known by its real name as I've forgiven them for the price increase) Nth Degree/55 min/450 calories
Thurs: Boot-camp: 60 min/300 calories- We did not run before hand and this really messed up the calorie burn. Sad Face.
Fri: Run 5 miles of Fartlek/Off-
Sat: Nth Degree/went early and ran a mile before class started-65 min/550 calories
Sun: Run 60 min & Barbell Class: Did both. 105 min: 650 calories

Here's a picture of me about to go for Sunday's run- sans makeup. Not a good look, but that sure is a cute baby, so decided to post it for my sole "follower" (Hi mom!)

The To-Do List of all To-Do Lists

So much is going on here!  I had a terrible case of insomnia and an annoying cough Sunday night, so I called in to work Monday. I usually get up for work at 4:30 am, so when I was still up at 4, I knew I had to call in.  Eventually I got a few hours of sleep. I took the kids to daycare and began to work on the "to do" list.  It is incredibly extensive!

This list is gigantic- but there is a good reason. In July of 2010, my youngest was born.  That October, my husband was diagnosed with a form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  He was only 35 and very healthy, so this was a huge shock.  You can imagine, not much got done that was not absolutely necessary! We spent that year just trying to keep our heads afloat.  All those "little" things that people take care of around the house were ignored.  I'm thrilled to say he is now in remission and is finally feeling great- so it's time to get crackin! Yes, I might be an awful wife- as soon as the man gets the "all clear" from the oncologist I'm running to the chalkboard, chalk pen in hand.

Here is the actual To:Do list.  Krista came over Friday night for pizza and asked "Is this all for this weekend?". I nearly choked! No.  A hundred times, No- I hope to finish this list before the end of 2012, not before the end of March! That Krista just cracks me up!

I was crazy productive on Monday and Tuesday and crossed a number of items off of my list.  Wednesday started the usual way, until my husband said "Have you seen Fiona?. Fiona is the youngest of my two Siamese cats.  She's been trying to get outside all week (it's her first spring).  Well, we think she was finally successful at escaping.  We though back and agreed that we had not seen her since before dinner on Tuesday. We looked for her Wednesday morning, I came home for lunch and looked for her and have been looking since.  As of today, still no Fiona.  We are devastated. I take some comfort in the fact that she a) has her claws b) is friendly and c) was a "stray" before we adopted her from Michigan Siamese Rescue.  I'm hoping she is with someone.  Still, I have been pretty upset over this ever since.

We don't know how she got out, but I suspect my kids had something to do with it.  My oldest just started playing with the doors and that's the only thing that I can think of. I have checked every drawer, cabinet, cubby in the house and I am sure she is not inside.  We have posted on Craig's List, have posters up, set up a animal trap, have left the garage cracked, put a litter box outside (so she can smell her way home) and notifies all of the neighbors.  I'm contacting the shelters and will contact MSR in case someone found her and contacts them. Here she is, pushing the grocery cart...

In happier news, I saw this super cute Easter wreath on Pintrest.  The tutorial is from Frills, Fluff and Trucks.  It's a fine tutorial, but I messed it up a bit.  I couldn't find a wreath form that I liked- and I don't think she said anything about size- so I  used one I already had. A big straw one.And I mean-BIG- as in Texas big.   I have already used over 100 eggs and I'm not even done yet. This monster doesn't even fit between my big door and screen door. I have no idea what I am going to do with it!

      

Here are some shots of it in progress:

Craft Room Renovation

My Craft Room Renovation is finally underway!  My Contractor (AKA my Dad) came over and built the work table. I had to empty out the room for him to do this- there are no words for this- it was that bad. You know how, growing up, you had a "Junk Drawer?", well this was our "Junk Room". Seriously. I will post the "Before" pictures, but not until the room is done.  You would judge me. I need to wait until you are oohing and ahhing over the finished project and thinking I am a fantastic homemaker before I show you these shots. It was that bad.

I already threw away three big black garbage bags of trash.  I have three laundry baskets of bills/paperwork to sort and file or shred and piles of stuff to sort.  Good thing another Justified dvd is on it's way from Netflix! As long as Raylan Givons is there to keep me company, I will manage.

On today's agenda: Fill in nail holes and cracks and get a coat of primer on it. Then I have to pick what color to paint it.As far as colors go, I have to work around the paint in the room (light grey, dark grey and white) and the laminated/Formica top of the dressers that I will have in there (yellow).  I used Design Seeds to try to get a palette. These two came up.

For Fabric, I/m looking at these collections.  I particularly like the Michael Miller flower ones and the Joel Dewbery one with the birds on the black background. I'm thinking that the Joel Dewberry yellow is more like the dresser than Michael Miller's.

I just ordered this Fat Quarter of the Joel Dewberry fabric from Etsy seller Mimis.

  I will need a lot of fabric for the craft room- for a valance, to cover a closet and for a skirt around the craft table. I think I will do a skirt like this from Swoon Worthy. It looks easy enough, and I'll just use hook and eye tape to attach it to the wood.  I'm glad to find one without pleats.  I'm not sure I'm up for that.  Here is a No Sew valance that I saw at CasaSugar.  Looks super easy.

And another good one from EffortlessStyle.  I have blinds in there, so I am afraid the styrofoam one might not fit over as well...we will have to see.









Finally, I found this option.  I'd get rid of the blinds.  This is a good thing, as they get on my last nerve because they always look like this:

And replace them with a fabric covered roller shade.  320 Sycamore has a great tutorial. 

I think that's enough for now.  I'll be back tomorrow with my weigh in, work out plan and we will talk more about food.  

And since you made it this far, I will reward you with a little pic of the junk room.

What is sad, is this is a picture of the closet- the least cluttered part of the room.  In fact, this photo shows the cleanest, most organized two feet of the whole place.

So, tell me about your To Do List.
Any tips on finding my poor Fiona?
Ideas for my Craft Room?
Easter Projects?