Before, Really Before and Really, Really Before

Maybe it was quitting smoking (June 10, 2004) or maybe it was my hysterectomy (May, 2007?I think) but somehow weight began to creep up on me in a big way.

Here are photos from December, 2008:

I realized something had to change so I renewed my relationship with Richard Simmons. For a year, I worked out 3-4 times per week. By the end of the year I was doubling my workout, which pushed the aerobics up to almost 30 minutes. But really, the results were not so remarkable.

Here I am in December, 2009:
I had to buy larger pants for the trip to China. None of my clothes fit.

For Christmas I gave myself a Wii Fit Plus and began working out daily. I introduced yoga, strength training and of course, aerobics. I definitely enjoyed the Wii as a fun way to get off my booty and get moving. But...the results were not remarkable. Here I am in March, 2010:
Now, I'm taking it to the next level. If you've been following this blog you know I graduated to running and ran my first marathon in June. Running has been great, but it's hard on my joints. A friend convinced me to try the P90X. Here are my "before" photos from earlier this week:

Admittedly, I had to rotate the photos, which (I swear) makes me look more squat than I am. But hey! These are "before" photos, so what the heck. I can say that the jeans I was wearing in March are now way too big for me.

Here I am in all of my honest, soul-bearing glory. I'll post another set of photos of myself in 84 more days..."after".

Peace,

My first 5k is behind me

Here we are (Saturday June 19), having just finished Vern's No Frills 5k. My hubby surprised me by running most of the way. He finished about a minute ahead of Sherie (my coach and friend) and me.

I'm proud of my results, finishing 5k in about 38 1/2 minutes. We ran a pretty steady race for the first 2 miles. We ran most of the last mile (one short little walk). I said "Oh my goodness!" about 50 times and Sherie reassured me every time that I could do it. For the last stretch she coached me as though I were swimming. I raced as a swimmer from the age of 6 to 16 so it was very effective to talk to me in terms of 50m laps in an individual medley.

This marks a major milestone and is a reflection of tremendous progress since investing in the Wii Fit Plus back in December.

Striking

Sometimes, when we're driving along...I'm moved to pull out my camera and capture the view. Amen.

Finally, the Outdoor Kitchen!

Once upon a time we had a dream. That dream began the day we saw our home for the first time. We'd only looked at about 100 homes, flying into neighborhoods like a blitzkrieg; reviewing 3-6 homes then moving on to another 'hood. This was back in '05. Finally we hit a neighborhood we liked but hubby insisted if we couldn't live near the lake then we must have a pool. All of the houses with pools were nixed for one reason or another.

We regrouped and told our realtor to find a house with potential for a pool. When we walked into this house, I knew immediately I was home...mostly because the interior paint worked well for all of our furniture. When my husband walked through the back door into the backyard, he knew we were home. The backyard was a canvas. Nothing but lawn and a few trees. We envisioned a pool, a pond, an outdoor living space that would become an extension of the house.

In the first year, we installed the pool & pond. This year we finally took it to the next level. After saving and planning, dreaming and strategically purchasing appliances we committed to build an outdoor kitchen.

Things started out well enough. We hired a contractor and provided detailed plans as well as all of the pre-purchased appliances. "This should only take a few weeks" the contractor committed. A few weeks into the project it was clear we were in trouble. Not only was the schedule blown, but the contractor hadn't followed the plan and hadn't bother measuring the hardware we'd purchased. The countertop was undercut, the rock veneer stuck out further than the counter. The drawer height wasn't accounted for. One of the counters drooped - at least 1/2" in the center. The tiles weren't put on per the well-known well-published (via HGTV and other DIY programs) guidelines, leaving them uneven. And day after day, the contractor neglected to show up. Finally, my wonderful husband took over. He is awesome! He tore out all of the faulty parts and began reconstruction. After 4 days of considering options (and the crappy work), my husband made his decision. He gave the contractor a second chance. "Fix it or pack your things and go". The contractor committed to fix it. But...after contributing to a day of deconstruction he no-showed for a few days. Hubby stayed busy and the kitchen began to take shape. By the time he heard from the contractor again ("I'm ready to buy new countertop material!") my husband was rocking and rolling on his own. He told the contractor to pick his equipment up. Done. He enlisted our son (and in a pinch a friend had to come help lift the countertop material). Progress, finally!In the background, a charcoal grill bears witness to the stop-gap measures. Night vision! With the lighting we should be able to operate well into the night. I'm looking forward to breaking her in this week. Let the parties begin!

We have a winner!

My Darling Hubby and I are going to participate in a 5K! Vern's No Frills 5K in Georgetown. He's walking. I'm running (and walking). He says he will keep up with me. Humph. We'll see.

We'll be joined by friends. I'm really looking forward to this!!! The "race" starts at 8am. Given the current weather, it will probably be hot and muggy already by then.

My current best rate is 4.5 mph. OK, folks. Look out! I'm in training.

"5K" anyone?

If someone had told me at the first of the year that I'd be considering running in a 5K before the year was half over I'd have said "5K"? Or something equally witty because seriously, it would have been beyond reason to even imagine such a thing. Now I'm not only imagining it, I'm actively researching my options and looking for the lucky winner of my first 5K entry. Runtex offers quite a variety and that's only a start.

Last summer I swam laps (our pool is a 33' lap lane), dreaming of the day I might participate in a Danskin relay (swimming, of course). I often joked that I wasn't a triathlete, I was a uni-athlete. I don't run and I don't bike. But it turns out I do run and I can certainly ride a bike. So maybe after I finish my first 5K I'll look into my options for a triathlon.

It turns out, Austin is filled with fitness-fiends. I'm just one of a crowd. And I'm really looking forward to experiencing this milestone. I've come a long way, baby.

Ye Ol' Medicine Ball

I've let my runs dominate my workouts. This morning I reintroduced Gin Miller's medicine ball (Power Abs) workout. Whew!

That was a nice change of pace.

The workout takes a little over 30 minutes. I'm working out with a 10 pound medicine ball.

Worst run ever

I've been consistently running 3-4 times a week. My "jogs" take me on a 2.5 mile circuit of my neighborhood. I'm averaging a pace of about 4 miles per hour. My endurance is improving. My pace is improving – I shave time off with each successive run. I'm finding running more rewarding than lifting weights or other forms of exercise. But yesterday's effort will go down in history as my worst ever. I need to remember to check the weather before I take off.

It started out as well as any run. I warmed up with a 1 minute walk then broke into a jog which loosened and improved as I warmed up and got into the zone. At about ¾ of a mile the wind picked up and the weather appeared to be quite threatening. Dark storm clouds were rolling in and I realized I might get caught in rain. I decided to head home at the mile mark rather than run the extra mile on the other side of the neighborhood.

I knew I could adjust my run to make up the distance while staying closer to home. What I didn't expect was that I should have been wearing protective goggles. With the wind, there was a lot of debris. As I innocently planned a new route, I came under attack. Something got in my eye. It could have been a grain of sand/dirt or a leaf for all I know. It felt huge, yet I couldn't seem to get it out. Of course I didn't stop running, that would have been silly.

So I ran with one eye closed, tears streaming down my face. Finally, as I reached the end of the first mile, I gave up and walked while trying to get the "something" out of my eye. I thought about knocking on a door. I thought about just walking up to a car in a driveway and using their side-view mirror (some objects are closer than they appear). I imagined my cornea getting scratched up while I rubbed on my eye. I imagined a trip to the emergency room to get the twig out of my eye. I didn't have to imagine the horrible pain I was feeling.

So I walked most of the ½ mile home.

When I got home I looked for all I was worth but I couldn't find the log that was in my eye. I put in eye drops. Lay down for a while. Looked again. Tried not to rub my eye. Rubbed my eye. Looked again. Eventually the tree or boulder that was in my eye came out. I never did figure out what was in there. Of course, by this time I was exhausted.

And so ended what I hope will remain on record as the worst run ever.

Graduation

Way back when, shortly after Christmas, I began a delightful (but slow) journey into fitness. My regimen of workouts evolved from playing around on the Wii Fit Plus to getting serious about exercise. Initially, although I was putting in at least 30 minutes per workout and working out at least 5 days per week, I lacked focus. By the end of February I was developing focus. I was consistently working out a minimum of 30 minutes of aerobic and up to an hour and a half of aerobic/strength training exercises. I also introduced yoga into my Wii workouts.

On top of that, once a week I joined a friend for a brisk 3 mile walk (taking a little under an hour). By the end of March I was feeling pretty good about myself, and I boldly began to jog a bit during my walks. I even joined my friend and her husband on a 7 mile bike ride (which exercised a completely different set of muscles, causing my glutes to ache for almost 2 weeks).

I also introduced a medicine ball workout which greatly taxed my abs/upper body. This was complimented by a twice-weekly arm/chest/upper-body workout with dumbbells.

By mid April I was jogging more than walking and the inviting Spring weather allowed this to be my predominant exercise. I truly felt as though I'd graduated from the Wii.

Then the Spring weather invited more than outdoor exercise. Austin is blanketed with the yellowish dust of Oak pollen. The wet weather fosters a bloom of mold, as well. I haven't worked out for a week as I've struggled with chest congestion and a chronic cough brought on by my allergies.

Hopefully I'll be back in action soon. I'm missing my workouts!

Wii Fit Plus and more

For Christmas we gave ourselves the Wii Fit Plus. It totally rocks. And it is well worth the investment.

We're almost 4 weeks into our Wii Fit adventure and I'm definitely an advocate for this device. We'd play Wii Sports before but it's nothing compared to this. It's like playing a video game that requires you to engage physically. And it tracks your exercise history, graphing it all out. Breaking out aerobic vs. Yoga vs. strength training, etc. I've also taken walking up a notch. At least once a week I've gone on a power-walk (2-3 miles at 3-4 mph).

Next step is more focus on diet. But I'm already reaping the benefits of the additional exercise so I consider this last bit "tuning." And self-control.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

...well, Christmas Eve, anyway. Late afternoon. And windy as all get-out. So windy two of our patio chairs blew into the pond. Yes, the pond is a tad green, but that's to make up for how brown the yard is. It'll all even back out in the Spring.



Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

While I was in China for two weeks, Christmas snuck up on us. We had a dinner party at our house the day after I got back home. Fortunately my husband is wonderful and he spruced the house up and did a decent job with the decorations. Dear Cha Cha opened her house and heart to the world, posting a home tour and inviting others to also share. Here are a few scenes from the Hart household.

"Old Dogs" - Movie Review

Old Dogs is a great movie to see if you're looking for some casual entertainment. I'd recommend it for date night and/or for family night. It's the kind of movie that is best enjoyed if you can suspend disbelief and just go with it. It's better if you don't question things like the short-notice ability of two 50+ year old single businessmen to come up with scouting outfits for themselves and their young charges (who come to visit with only one small suitcase apiece).

John Travolta and Robin Williams seem to enjoy themselves in their roles - business partners who are suddenly responsible for a pair of 7 year old twins. These two belie the adage that you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Both experience significant personal growth during the month of their lives the movie covers.

For the most part the comedy is low brow, with the usual fare of farts and groin-racking incidents. There are plenty of pratfalls, which will make you wince if you're over 40. I believe Robin when he complains that he has bad knees.

John and Robin are repeatedly mistaken for the twin's grandparents and are also repeatedly mistaken as being a couple (such as when Robin introduces John as "his partner" - the natural assumption is personalpartners rather than professional). Fortunately, they're able to take all of this in stride with self-deprecating good humor.

I would have preferred the movie not waste time on offshoot tales, such as spray-tans gone wrong (Robin in a tanning booth getting over-done while John is hitting on the negligent attendant) or other irrelevant side stories (a tattoo that requires the shaving of Robin's chest hair) to allow for more character development. The romance between Robin and the twins' mother "Vicki" might have been more believable if we'd been allowed more opportunity to understand her motives and interests.

Some of the humor might have been a little over-the-top, but many scenes had the entire theater heartily laughing. It was nice to see Robin and John poke a little fun at themselves and each other; that certainly added to my enjoyment of the movie. I'm really glad they didn't try to ignore the very real age gap. Robin and John's chagrin at being mistaken as grandparents may have humored me even more because I'm a grandparent.

If you're looking for a movie that is lighthearted, relatively inoffensive and effectively mindless in its storyline and humor, I recommend Old Dogs. It's not meant to be an intellectual movie; it's simply a fun opportunity to share some laughs.

Where did the time go?

In October I started writing a book on parenting and our relationship with God. It's not a how-to book by any stretch of the imagination. It's just my musings on these topics. It reads a lot like posts I put on my other blog. It's nothing like the posts I put on this blog, which seem to be mostly about the things my cat drags in.

I was plodding along through my life, bemoaning all of the challenges and difficulties and wishing I could write full time. As much as my job motivates me to do something else, the regular pay outweighs quite a lot of the challenges and difficulties. I prayed about the situation regularly.

Then a couple of things happened at once. Guideposts agreed to publish my 2nd story (March issue). And NaNoWriMo crossed my radar. Who wouldn't want to write a novel? I joined over 150,000 other aspiring novelists in the ambitious goal of penning (keyboarding?) 50,000 words beginning November 1st and finishing (and posting the completed work) before midnight on November 30th.

Because I'm an overachiever ... and because I'm leaving for China on November 30th, I set a personal goal to finish by November 20th. Which happens to be my 45th birthday.

Even though I could feel guilty about abandoning my blogs and allowing them to fall to the wayside while I plunge into writing as a part-time job rather than the hobby it's been for the last year or so, I don't. I'm proud of myself for finally getting off my butt (or rather sitting my butt down!) and acting on a dream. God willing, this dream will become my life.

So if you happen by this blog and wonder whatever happened to the woman who used to live here, I ask that you give me a little time because this turn in my life is requiring both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road.

"The One That Got Away"

Fortunately, by the time I found the feathers spread out across my bedroom floor, I already knew this one had a happy ending... relatively speaking anyway.

Occasionally when we're away the house is locked up but the sunroom door gets left open. This means that Al, the killer cat, can come and go with access to the outside world. Not such a good idea.

When I got home from a Saturday afternoon outing, I could hear Al upstairs meowing away. I followed the sound to my office where I found him hovering over a poor little baby bird. I quickly grabbed a washcloth from the nearest bathroom and used it to carefully envelop the bird and whisk the terrorized little guy to safety. I released it in our front yard in the hedges. Based on its hasty retreat, it didn't appear to be harmed.

Shortly after, I found the feathers all over my bedroom floor. Given my focus, I didn't have time to take a photo of the victim. I was able to snap this image at my leisure. I give you "The One That Got Away".

Then Sings My Soul: "Motions" by Matthew West

I continue to pull the wheel to the right. I'm not making a right angle turn but a big sweeping curve. No matter what I do in this life, I want to do it filled with God's passion. Blessed by the Spirit. Never let it be said I'm just going through the motions.

Movie Review: "Couples Retreat"

"Couples Retreat" is a romantic comedy written by (and starring) Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. Jason Bateman and Faizon Love complete the cast of husbands. We're introduced to four couples in various stages of relationship. Shane (Love) and his girlfriend Trudy (Kali Hawk) have dated for a few weeks as he is on the rebound from his recent divorce from Jennifer (Tasha Smith). Joey (Favreau)and his wife Lucy (Kristin Davis) seem to barely tolerate each other's company and are clearly heading for separation or divorce. Dave (Vaughn) and wife Ronnie (Malin Akerman) will resonate with most couples with young children - life is busy, hectic and often tense as all of life's "little decisions" must be made during every stolen moment. Jason (Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) seem like a loving couple, but the tension of unsuccessfully conceiving a child have made them question their ability to be together. They are the catalyst for eventual journey to Eden, a gorgeous island resort for marriage counseling. Although initially billed as optional, it turns out the scheduled activities are anything but. And on the other side of the lagoon? A singles club swings with lights and action.

It was nice to enjoy a comedy that didn't include all of the funny clips in the trailer. This is a great date-night movie: crude enough for him, romantic enough for her.

Then Sings My Soul: Undo by Rush of Fools

This is a daily prayer for me! It's so easy to stray. So challenging to stay close to You, God, while trying to grow into what You want me to become. Thank you, Lord, for your patience and persistence in bringing me back to the place of forgiveness and grace.

Undo
by Rush of Fools

I've been here before
Now, here I am again
Standing at the door
Praying You'll let me back in

To label me
A prodigal would be
Only scratching the surface
Of who Ive been known to be

Turn me around, pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, I need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one
Who can undo what I've become

I focused on the score
But I could never win
Trying to ignore
A life of hiding my sin

To label me
A hypocrite would be
Only scratching the surface
Of who I've been known to be

Turn me around, pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, I need Your help
I cant do this myself
You're the only one
Who can undo what Ive become

Make every step lead me back to
The sovereign way that You

Turn me around, pick me up
Undo what Ive become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, I need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one who can undo
You are the only one who can undo
You're the only one who can undo
What I've become

My first book review: Carter Beats the Devil

Carter beats the rap, the odds, the competition and wins the girl...twice

Although initially daunted by the length of "Carter Beats the Devil," the novel came highly recommended so I committed to include it in my summer reading material. At over 650 pages it was a little bulky for beach fare but perfect for my bedside table.

The characters are well-developed and engaging, which makes the tale easy to read in bursts. We follow Carter's story from childhood, when he is first introduced to magic, to his early days as a magician, through his career in a field that is secretive and competitive. Author Glen David Gold establishes the story in an era filled with historical references, including the presence of such characters as Houdini and President Warren G. Harding.

Woven throughout the tale of Carter's career are tales of courtship, romance, chivalry, danger and intrigue. Carter's first love blooms and grows despite his awkwardness. When disaster strikes, we mourn with Carter. When, later in life, Carter finds himself with the opportunity to love again we're compelled to cheer him on in his efforts at romance.

Carter is a man who consistently strives to do the right thing in every situation. Gold does him justice, developing Carter as a sympathetic character to be admired and supported, even when it appears he may have gone too far in pursuit of his next illusion. This is truly a tale well told.

Posted on Barnes & Noble's site, September 22, 2009, 10:42 AM EST

Oh Al, you shouldn't have!

What a sweet cat! He knew it was my darling hubby's birthday so he brought him a gift.

"Happy Birthday! Here's the bird I brought you! I did nibble off the head while I was waiting for you to come find this treasure. Hope you don't mind!"

And I, because I love both my husband and the cat, I cleaned up the mess. I bagged the bird and vacuumed the feathers up. Even though I don't do dead animals - that's why I stay married. So HE can do dead animals. But I love him, and it was his birthday.