Back in the Saddle.......

The clouds are starting to clear...
 

This week was exhausting but it was such a great week.  It was a roller coaster of emotion and at one point I said to my friend Sherry.."Bring it on, what's next!?"  Her response was..."Quit asking for it..."  She is so right.  Ever since my Dad died in 2006, with the economy tanking, it has been one thing after another.  I generally have a positive outlook and try to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I must admit, when I broke my ankle 9 weeks ago, I felt defeat.  My exercise program was the glue to keeping me whole and feeling sane.  I felt great and was looking great.  Then I hit the wall.  With Jay out of town, Stevi being sick a lot, business down, the broken ankle, the house flooding, my Mom's dog dying, the IRS chasing me, getting food poisoning, losing our house, my Harley and closing the salon I worked so hard to build, I sometimes wanted to crawl into a hole in the fetal position and just go to sleep.  Not being able to sleep is a big issue especially emotionally and physically.  It begins to take its toll on anyone.

Since Jay is now home, he got laid off and starts a job in Incline Village on Monday working 4-10's which will be awesome, and Stevi just finished cheer season, we will be able to have family dinners again.  Also, with Jay home, I won't have to do all the running around and with a possible diagnosis for Stevi's constant illness, we now are forced to change the household to a Wheat free, Gluten free zone to make it easy for her.  I just finished Cross Fit this morning and it was an amazing workout that felt so good I could of cried!  I didn't crave the usual daily naughty coffee, but instead stopped at the Jus Bar and got an Age Reversal juice with spinach and chugged that down feeling even better. There are a lot of Sun ray's coming through the clouds, we got the flooring replaced this morning and after 5 weeks, I may be able to actually do our laundry at home.  Stevi will have more free time and wants to start going to Cross Fit with me and probably start dance again as well as Volleyball and practice her singing.  I now need to look forward to what life has to give instead of looking back to what life has taken.  We are all struggling to survive.  I now  realize that I had lost my ability to see all the good in the world and I chose to start living happy and stress free.  My neck is back in place, weekly visits to the Chiropractor have helped me with that, I have eliminated my freebies, given the kids money towards their wedding at the end of June, gotten through cheer seasons hectic schedule with Jay living out of town , I am able to hike again, run a little and exercise.   Now we will be eating healthy and my body can already feel the difference.  So I chose to dismount my horse I've been riding to the pity party and start this rodeo all over again, after all, it's not my first.

I survived.......

My Mom doing 50 Burpees
As you know , I started my week with a wonderful 3.1 mile hike on Monday then that evening ended up finishing my Monday getting food poisoning which put a damper on my plan to jump right back into my fitness routine.  The only change I am making is one less 'run' day which I will now call a 'Cardio' day until I feel my ankle is ready to take a pounding since I generally run on pavement.  God's way of holding me back, I am sometimes unable to do that myself because I just don't have it in me to quit.  Thursday I felt OK and was hoping to get to Cross Fit but ended up getting over booked that day to get caught up from being sick....Thank you again to my "Higher Power"  I'm sure I needed that extra day of rest.  So as of now, my schedule is Mon and Fri Cardio, Tues, Thurs and Sat. Cross Fit.

Sierra Nevada CrossFit Gym...Love it! 

This morning my Mom thankfully agreed to the 9 am class, as much as I would rather sleep in a bit longer, I really enjoy my Saturdays with my family, especially since Jay is still living in Susanville while he works and comes home on the weekends.  So today was officially my first day back, (I tried once but I wasn't ready).

Of course the 'Eye Candy" showed up as we were leaving...
We started with a warm up of running the Switchbacks up behind Mayberry Park.  As you can imagine, I was told to hike it, not run it.  It has been 8 weeks today since I fractured my ankle and I must admit, I have been a bit scared to re-injure myself because it was really a painful couple of months.  So I listened to Kat (My beautiful Trainer, I want to look like her when I grow up) for about 5 minutes.  I was listening to my body and my body told me to try to run.  I did for about 30 seconds.  Still too tight in my Achilles tendon, so I kept walking.  On the way up the switchback my body begged me to try again, so I did and even though it was uphill, my ankle let me go, but being 25 degrees out at that time, my lungs told me to stop.  Walking at a quicker pace now I was starting to feel good, actually great, not just physically but mentally, although I was completely aware of just how out of shape I had gotten.  It took 10 weeks to get where I was before my injury, and 2 weeks for it to be all gone.  Very discouraging but I will fight it head on.  I ran a bit but mostly hiked to the top to meet the others...(I wasn't last though!!! Yay Me!)  then Kat was sweet enough to make us do 100 back lunges.  Thanks Kat, because my ass has fallen and it can't get back up.  On the way down I felt warmed up and very inspired, my body said "RUN LIKE THE WIND!!"  I tried and ran most of the way downhill but the only wind I think that was happening was my lungs saying "Are you f'ing serious right now?" and my Mom's lips causing wind by saying "Be careful, Lisa, don't overdo it!"  Love you Mommy.  She told Kat to tell me to stop and Kat's response was "If she won't listen to her own mother, do you think she will listen to me?"   She knows me well.  But I WAS listening to my body and I felt great, so great in fact on the last stretch back, we all ran (slowly) in. I could have cried I was so happy, then I almost did when I saw the WOD (work out of the day) board.
Everything listed was followed by 100.....


http://www.crossfitsierranevada.com

My trainer Kat Baltierra is the hottie with the naughty body in the middle.. To train with this amazing young woman you can click the link above for the gym or contact her personally @ 775-772-8991

I was amazed at how well I did, as well as how out of shape I had really gotten.  I took it very slow, at that point I now needed to really modify so I didn't hurt myself, a very humbling experience for me.  Back to the black bands for the pull ups, the burpees I had to step back instead of jump and step forward and rather than jump up, I had to do toe raises.  The box jumps ended up being step ups, I use a lower box generally but I did choose a bit taller of a box since I wasn't actually jumping.  I completed all of those exercises, very slowly, the burpee to pull-ups I had to separate into two different exercises instead of all in one so those only ended up being 50 of each....Still hard after laying dormant for 8 weeks and the last exercise  I only got half way through were the straight legged sit-up....I got to 50 and it was time to stretch, which on the left was actually harder than the exercises themselves.  I have recently become obsessed with Lingerie Football and Kat said she can get me to look even better than those girls before Jayson and Guoda's  Geez you're a maniac)  And thank you God for slowing me down this week, I'm sure I needed that!

My Relaxing day off.....

 Today is my day off.  And just like every day off I have other than Sundays and the 1st of the month, it is more jam packed than any day I have to work.  It is now 2 am and I have just gotten a chance to sit down and try to relax enough so I can go close my eyes and fall into that peaceful slumber known as sleep....you know, to recharge my batteries and start again.

 My day started around 7 am because my daughter needed a ride to school, then I came home and grabbed all the dirty laundry I could find because the washer and dryer are now out in the garage, because of the flood of 2012, so my wonderful Mom said I could bring it over to her house and do it there.  As always, I don't have a leisurely day because, well, that's just my life.  I reached her house a little after 9 am and got my first load of towels started , we sat, had coffee and chatted away before I got to start my second load then, off to the races.  I had an 11 am nail appointment with Tita.  We finished at Destinations and were out the door around 12:20 ish.   I was starving and because my Mom is letting me use her water and power, I took her to lunch after making a deposit at the bank.  We ended up at Ihop because it was right there and I should have known I was cranky because a group of 3 gay kids came in, don't care that they were gay, but they were loud and proud, rude and obnoxious.  Survived lunch, it was actually really good, then it was off to the beauty supply.  I only go once every week or two because it is usually anywhere from $250-$600 depending on how many supplies I need, and now with the economy, I text all my clients for the week and see if they need anything, then since it is a special order I give them a 25% discount when they pick it up.  I don't sell as much product as I used to, so keeping my shelves stocked as a sole proprietor in a Studio is just a waste of money.  After the beauty supply I special delivered my sisters Shampoo, Conditioner, Oil and Mineral make-up then I received a call from my friend Wayne also my contractor.  He needed me to get out to the house because his buddy Scott needed in to get a couple of the fans (we have 5 going at all times, can't WAIT for the power bill) for another job.  I have to answer it because right now, I am relying on him to fix my flood problem via my husband and the landlord.  I usually never answer the phone when I am driving.  A- It distracts me while I'm driving. B- I HATE talking on the phone , I'm just too busy for small talk, I know that sounds rude but I have never liked really talking on the phone.  So I was a bit shitty and a smart ass to Wayne, but he knows how I am so I am sure he realizes I am under a bit of stress at the moment.  Run out to the house, pick up Stevi from the school, keep her out of cheer (which was a good thing seeing that I didn't get home until after midnight), run to the house, unlock the doors for the carpet/flood guy so he can come get his fan, I didn't have time to wait so off we were to Costco.  I haven't grocery shopped in probably 6 weeks, maybe 7, since I broke my ankle so we were out of a lot of stuff.  I can't use my Mom's washer and dryer and all her soap on top of it!

 Thankfully the dogs came with me to play with their beautiful cousin Chyla, she's a lovely bitch,  we ended up doing dinner, homework and 8 loads of laundry at my Mom's house which got us out of there around 11:45.  My poor dogs were dead tired from tearing up Chyla's toy, my Mom looked like she had toothpicks in her eyes to keep them open and Stevi after finishing her home work passed out on the couch.  I have insomnia so I was rearing to go.  Folding laundry and watching my boyfriend Simon Baker on the Mentalist.


My Mom made us each a martini and I popped the chicken Alfredo in the oven and we just chilled, watched TV and posted pictures of my Mom's bulging biceps on FB.

All in all it was a normal productive day off, however, poor Stevi was dead tired so as we pulled into the driveway I told her to go to bed and I would handle everything else.......get the dogs out of the car....four baskets and two bags of laundry, the detergent and bleach, then the Costco groceries, and the mail.  After I put the groceries away and laundry away I poured myself a glass of wine, after all, my martini was around 4pm and it is now 2 am, I need to relax for bed.  But I do think those Macaroons are calling me and if Stevi is in bed and Jay is out of town........It doesn't count if they don't see you eat it right!?  

I iced my ankle at my Mom's house and although I still hurt at the end of the day and am still swollen, I NEED to get back on my schedule.  Next week I will be starting my 6 day training with Mon, Wed, and Fri running and Tues, Thurs and Sat. CrossFit

Day one down................

Did I get hit by a train!?

A little Rusty around the edges.

How I'm sure I'll feel tomorrow...

Well my first P90X workout is done.  I'm not going to lie, it was very hard, mainly the Ab Ripper X part, probably because by that time you are freakin' exhausted!  I'm a little rusty right now because my main exercise has been walking  and hiking, not very much else, especially in the strengthening department which at my age should be my main focus since after the age of 35 your muscles start to deteriorate at a rapid rate!  Here is what I accomplished in an hour and 10 mins.......(these are all two sets for Chest & Back thats why there are two numbers)

Push ups 15 and 10
Wide Grip Band pull downs with purple band 15 and 17
Military Push ups with knees 10 and 5
Reverse Grip Band pull downs purple 12 and 13
Wide Fly Push Ups with knees 13 and 12
Close Grip overhead band pull downs purple 15 and 10
Decline Pushups with feet on coffee table 10 and 8
Heavy Pants 8lbs 15 then 15 lbs 10
Diamond Push ups with knees 10
Lawnmowers 8 lbs 15 then 15 lbs 10
Dive Bomber push ups 8 1/2 and 7 1/2
Back Flys 8 lbs 16 then 15 lbs 9
Abs...............good Lord , supposed to do 25 of ea. only did 10-12 of ea. exercise.......
V-up Toe ups
Seated Crunchy Frogs
Bicycle forward then back
Heels to Heaven (why did it feel like Hell then?)
Oblique V- ups
Leg Climbs Phase 1
In and Outs
Mason Twist (about 14 on each side)
Fifer Scissors
Hip Rock and Raise
Roll up V-up Combos

 Yup, that's it in a nutshell, now to go grab Stevi and Daivee from Cheer, I'm sure they will love how I look and smell.............Tomorrow 4 am Plyometrics, (That one is the hardest from what I remember..................)  Good night!

Fitting it in, no excuses!

sports

Is there ever enough time?  Yes, you just have to live each moment and make it work.  As our family grows, we run into family parties, dinners, game nights, bbq's, birthday parties etc.  I also love to hike,  this summer has been a challenge because of the heat, but that is reason #1 why I decided to start my P90X today, especially because of last year while snowshoeing I fell into an icy creek and had to pull myself out with a branch GI Jane style.  If I hadn't been working out as much as I was at the time there is no way I think I would have been able to survive that day.

     My mom commented on yesterdays blog worried that we weren't going to get to Achieve to workout, I would still like to but as life happens it seems my best bet is to fit it into my schedule whenever possible, tonight at 6:00 while Stevi is at Cheer practice.  Tomorrow at 4 am because I work a 12 hour day.  Do I want to get up at 4 am....hell no!  But I do want to get into shape again.  Mom, you can follow along at home with me if you'd like, and yes I will still walk and go to Achieve with you and of course go on day long hikes......we will make it work.

     Today is day one of P90X, this morning I had 2 proteins and 8 oz. of water so far, and I found and app for my iphone called Eat Right 90 which logs your intake according to what level (I'm a Level 1) and Phase (Phase 1) you are, it also shows you portions sizes and calories,  I need to keep my calories at around 1800 which for me seems like a lot so it should be easy, especially if you are eating healthy you eat a lot more food.  I am actually a little sore from the Fit Test yesterday and weighed in at 135.4 lbs today (hmmm Ben and Jerry's?) but my biceps are sore from the 41 freaking curls I did!  Tonight is Chest, Back and Abs so I should be OK.......I will have to start with my bands until I get strong enough to use my chin up bar.  Jay is working out of town, so technically I am a single mom with 2 incomes and a long distance text boyfriend.  Perfect time to embark on a new exercise program, the TV hasn't been on since Sunday, I actually missed Sons of Anarchy last night (recording is awesome)  So I will watch it with Jay this weekend if he gets home.   I will let you know how I am feeling tomorrow.......4am is going to come very early especially after I have a workout so late tonight.  If I can fit it in so can you!  Let's do this!!!!!

  

Family time

Friendships

Play time

Hiking

P90X Fit test........

As many of you know, I try to stay as active as possible, but being Hungarian/German it never seems to be enough, not to mention that I love food. So in addition to hiking and doing as much outdoors activity as I can and an occasional trip to the gym with my mom, I am starting my P90X program tomorrow and I will take you all that are interested on the 90 day journey with me. I have plenty of before picture (thankfully with clothes on!) So I will spare you those but I did do the fitness test today to see if I am in good enough shape to start tomorrow. Even though I haven't been working out like I should and it has been an occasional hurry up and exercise moment I am in much better shape than I thought! (Thanks Mom for always being there when I want to walk 6 miles to lunch during a cancellation!) Now for the disgusting truth, I will be brutally honest here is the fit test for today.........

Weight 134.8

Chest 39"

Waist 33"

Hips 40"

Right Thigh 19"

Left Thigh 20"

Biceps 11" (they match!!)

Resting Heart Rate 65

Pull -ups.... Not a one! Maybe 1/8th of one ( I will be able to in 90 days!)

Vertical Leap 9"

Push-ups 16 Full form no knees (yes!)

Toe Touch...exact, no more no less

Wall Squat 1 min. 2 sec. (whew passed with 2 extra seconds!)

Bicep curls with 8 lb weights 41.......(need to start with heavier dumbbells for sure!)

In & Outs 25 (those are like a crunch while you balance on your butt)

2 Minutes of Jumping Jacks and monitor heart rate upon stopping.......

167 bpm upon stopping

137 after 1 minute

114 after 2 minutes

103 after 3 minutes

96 after 4 minutes (the idea is the faster you recover the better shape you are in, I used to recover much faster!)

The next 3 weeks my schedule will be ........

Day 1 Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X (1 hr and 10 mins.)

Day 2 Plyometrics (59 mins)

Day 3 Shoulders & Arms , Ab Ripper X (1 hr. 15 mins)

Day 4 Yoga X (1 hr 30 Mins)

Day 5 Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X (1 hr 15 mins)

Day 6 Kenpo X (56 mins)

Day 7 Rest (ahhhhhhh........)

I know not all of you have the program but there is a guideline if you have equipment or videos at home or even go to the gym you could maybe improvise and workout with me, keeping your own log.......feel free to post any accomplishments or questions you may have, I would love to inspire you or be inspired by you! Good night!

Obviously my new iphone has kept me occupied.

I'm sorry I have become one of "those" bloggers, I guess it's like missing a day of exercise, all of a sudden you are off the wagon!

I

can't believe I haven't blogged since October 25th, but I guess so, a lot has happened. If you look at my weekly updates, you can see how many hikes my mom and I have accomplished. We are both getting into incredible shape, the gym has become a second home for both of us and we both started to work out because out clothes were getting uncomfortable. So now since both of us need a belt or our pants will literally fall off of us, I am handing down my pants to her, and pulling all my "skinny" pants out of hiding, some of those are even too big, it's great, I can't afford to buy a new wardrobe so looks like my sewing machine may have to come out. I bought hiking pants and well, they are way too big, but I make them work.

Stevi turned 13 on the 23rd of November and a few of her friends met us at the skating rink, we had a blast, she always chooses such nice kids to hang out with. They say if you don't like your children's friends, then you probably would not like your children when they are out hanging. So that always makes me feel good.

We had the most handsome boy in the world stay with us for a few days over the Thanksgiving Holiday and he was perfect. We took him to go see a movie, which was interesting, we tried to get into Planet 51 which was sold out and ended up seeing A Christmas Carol, not really a children's movie, but when the ghosts were flying thru the air, Jack would say "Weeeeeeeee!" And that kid can eat popcorn like no other, I wonder, when I was pregnant with Jayson I could go through a large at the movies before the previews were done. I guess it is a genetic craving!

I survived Black Friday with my sister and Stevi, only I started at Midnight so I was awake for 33 hrs. Jack, Stevi and Papa let me take a nap for around 4 hours when I got home and then thanks to Jacks hugs and kisses, I was rejuvenated.

And today, Sage and Willow, Liz and my Mom came over and we had a gingerbread house building party as well as gingerbread boys and girls. It was so much fun! The girls did a great job and ate a lot of the decorations but hey , at least I didn't! So all-in-all, I am trying to get back to reality.

Oh Yeah, AND, Stevi was scouted for a travel soccer team, tried out and she made it. Practice starts on Wednesday but the season isn't until February. She is also on an indoor soccer team which just got moved up to competitive level because they were beating the other teams so badly, so we played on Saturday and when we showed up, there were some big boys on the field. We ended up getting beaten for the first time and the score was 29-0, when the boys took off their indoor jerseys, the shirts they had on underneath said "McQueen Highschool Soccer Team" The kicker, most of them drove themselves! It was unreal! They got pretty rough with the boys , excuse me, young men though, I think they were getting pretty frustrated, but they survived, Stevi has some indoor field turf burns on her arms and legs because she went down hard a couple of times, but when she realized who they got beaten by she felt better about it, I mean those boys had facial hair!!!! Geez!

Sleeping Beauty.....

I don't get out much anymore, so last night was a big deal. Felt like I partied like a rock star. I wasn't in bed till 3 and didn't wake up until after noon today. Stevi had Cierra spend the night and since Jay wasn't feeling well, I invited my mom to come along for dinner, (I had 2 50% off entree coupons for Carrow's, don't laugh, it actually wasn't that bad) and Stevi and Cierra needed to shop for Crazy Week at Shaw, so while they walked around Summit Mall, my mom and I had a martini and a mocha latte at the Chocolate Bar, then we all went to go see Fame. The movie was ok, but I was hopped up on caffeine, so last night we got home after midnight and I stayed up and finished Season 2 of Dexter. Finally got tired after taking Black Cohosh and didn't wake up until after 12. We are going on a 10.1 mile hike tomorrow off of Hobart Rd. in Washoe Valley, the west side, so I guess it is ok that I skip exercise today, I added Ball Blast to my schedule for Wednesday, so don't worry, I am not slacking off.....it's fun, anyone want to go with me!?

Gray Eagle Creek Trail

We were expecting snow up in Graeagle. According to the forecast, it was to snow until 3 am this morning. The temperature was only supposed to reach 55 today, so we didn't know what to expect. Since my dogs basically only have lincoln logs for legs, I left them at home just in case. I really felt bad because they would have been fine.

Cheri brought her beagle Simon with her today and he and Chyla took a moment to get to know each other but after a bit they were fine, I think only having one new dog for Simon to meet is probably a good thing since he is normally a leash walker.

The weather was a bit chilly but all in all the hike WAS moderate, there were some hills but nothing like Fridays hike. I don't think Cheri thought of throwing rocks at me once this trip.

It really is beautiful up in the Plumas National Forest area, next week we will be hiking on Tuesday at Hunter Creek which is in the Mogul area, so we won't have to travel, however it is a 7 mile hike so it will take us 3-4 hours. Cheri showed up sporting new hiking boots and said they really made a difference, so tomorrow after Mom and I do our "Fitness Express" class at noon, we are going to head over to Sierra Trading Post to see if there are any boots in our budget. (Budget, hate it, hate it, HATE IT!)

Check out the dew on this leaf, it really was gorgeous up there. We had a great time, Cheri was a trouper and I think we now have a hiking partner!

Cheri gave me a boost up for a photo opp. ......it didn't work as I had fantasized, I got up and slid right back down.......oh well! Got to love friends with a helping hand......

Race for The Cure

Today was cold. It is the first Susan G. Komen Race for the cure that Nellie, Liz and I had done, we had one other team mate Amber who ran with her sister. Because there were only four of us on our team, we didn't get a sign this year, which is fine because I don't think any of us could really feel our hands.
Most of the time we had to walk because there were so many people but when we got a decent passing lane we ran for a bit. That was enough for all of us, Nellie is probably the most fit out of the 3 of us (she's 21) and Liz and I lost our training motivation a while back. My right knee kept hurting, I think I will try a brace because while I got better at running, I actually was enjoying it. Nellie could run completely around Sparks Marina no problem and Liz was doing well too, but life happened for all three of us (Amber is a crazy runner so I am glad we didn't hold her back) so we lost our training motivation, time, schedules, etc.
Liz walked for our Grandmother and I unfortunately walked for four, Grandma Fake, Sharon Stephenson, Kathy Taylor and Judy Bitz. Had I known we could also wear a celebration for survival sign, I would have also had Michelle Gandolfo and Lynne Shoenberger on a list as well. Survivors that were walking had pink balloons with the years and months they had survived so far, there were a lot of balloons and we saw a few men walking for "My Beautiful Wife" which almost made me cry. I hope next year we have a larger team, Liz wants to start her own with an ad such as......
"Do you lay down and watch the sit-up segment of Jazzercize class? If so call Lazy Liz and we will stroll for the cure in 2010...." She may have some takers, good luck with that sis.
We burned around 640 calories this morning so the 3 of us finished at Starbucks and enjoyed a nice hot latte, Nellie had a steamer, and some more girl talk. It was fun, come to think of it, I am glad I didn't run it because the togetherness of girls was much better....yeah!

JOIN US NEXT YEAR FOR TEAM MOXIE LADIES!

The Broken Dog and Pissed off Friend.......

My mom and I started hiking a month ago, and our goal is to hike/snowshoe/cross country ski once a week to be one with ourselves and nature. I apparently (this I found out JUST yesterday) am weird for loving to exercise the way I do....hmmm. So my Mom went to Barnes and Nobles and bought a hiking book for the Reno Tahoe area. So far we have done Ophir Creek Trail (Davis Creek area) Thomas Creek Trail (Arrowcreek) Mt. Washington (Plumas National Forest) and yesterday was Bear Lake Loop (Graeagle, Ca.)Yesterdays hike said 3.4 miles of moderate and scenic hiking.......I think that means if you stay on the trails that are in the book. Well who needs a book with memories such as ours, plus it is an adventure, right? We were supposed to loop around 4 lakes, Little Bear, Cub, Silver and Round. Only we kept on going, as the hike progressed into the most difficult hike so far, (and we brought a newbie, Cheri along since it was her first time we thought this moderate hike would be perfect to break her in) basically rock climbing, we came onto Long Lake. As my Mom said, "We should have know when the man we ran into said 'Worth the hike isn't it? No you don't want to go that way.....you want to go back around this way. Well ok, I am going this way, you girls have fun...' then split quickly." As we continued onward, I mean upward.....it got more and more difficult. Then we started to see signs that said 'Pacific Crest Trail' and 'Mt. Elwell'. Signs are a good sign right?
Cheri started to question my natural ability for finding our way back.....I assured her she did not need to be concerned as sometimes these trails can be deceiving and we always find our way back. After around two to two and a half miles of climbing up, and quite a few rests (photo opps.) I told them to hang on and I would hike further up and see where the trail was heading. At that point I came down and told them that I thought maybe we should turn around since there was a guy in Leiderhossen's (sp) who didn't speak any english but I think he was asking for my passport. So we did turn around then found the same sign we had found before that said 1/2 mile to Round Lake........why didn't that make sense before? I don't know. Onward soldiers. We are now 4 miles into our 2-3 mile "moderate" hike. Why is it when you are hiking, you are always hiking uphill? Even on your way back? Does that happen to anyone else? Cheri is now not speaking to me and she has sunglasses on but I am pretty sure she is glaring at me...... We continued to hike up, found an old mining camp that we were sure was a plane wreckage..and the dogs dug for buried treasures which gave us some time to get water, rest and have a snack. Eventually we came to the top of the crest and started to head down, which seemed like it was taking a lot longer than we had anticipated that could have just been us because we were all exhausted, but an hour later, we came to where we had started. Luckily there was a map so we could track were we had gone and found that according to the legend, we went approximately 8 miles and were heading towards Alaska. My Timex watch that Jay bought me last Christmas doesn't have a pedometer, (I need to use Jay's I think) but it tracks your heart rate and it said I burned 1327 calories. That is more than most people burn in the gym for the week! We will continue to hike weekly, even thought Dyna has thrown up on two of our hikes (sorry Chrissi) and Raider was limping last night (I think he pulled something jumping out of the car at my Mom's house he is better today) and Cheri said she will go with us again on Monday, even though
in the car, she admitted to both of us that at one point, had she been able to bend over and pick up a rock, she would have thrown it at the back of my head. But she completed the most difficult hike for us so far, and my mom and I are a month into it on top of an exercise program. Good job Cheri. Hope to see you Monday, 9:15 for the Graeagle Creek Trail, 4.4 miles of "moderate" hiking..........yeah, we'll see.............

I'VE MET GOAL!

We started Weight Watchers on August 1st. It's amazing how you gradually put on weight and don't notice it until one day you see a picture of yourself and then think to yourself, no wonder my clothes are so uncomfortable! Today I finally reached my goal! I am so excited! In the past, when I have gotten down to my weight I started introducing "bad" foods back into my diet because I had lost weight. I will now stick with weight watchers to monitor my weight. I started with meetings and then Jay, Stevi and I figured out the point system and have been doing it ourselves ever since. As of today, all 3 of us have lost 15 lbs. ea.! I feel much better and I know I look better, you can see it in my face mostly I think. What a great way to start your day. Now I can start using my activity points as I earn them and I think you get 4 more points a day on top of that. It doesn't sound like a lot but when you only get 20 points a day, that's huge, (it equals around 200 more calories a day). So for now, I will continue to exercise, and eat 20 points a day plus my 35 weekly flex points, add in my activity points when I earn them and weigh myself daily. If I need to add extra points in because I am continuing to lose, I will, if I start to gain I will take them away again, either way I will figure it out! Oh Happy Day!

Has it really been 6 weeks.......

In 6 weeks...........

Stevi started 7th grade

made new friends, and All-Stars for Soccer

played football with the neighborhood boys

figured out her middle school locker.

In 6 weeks.......

I've rolled Lumpias with Dora for Jeff's dinner party

gone hiking up the Pass

cut my hair short

took my Mom to an exercise class.

In 6 weeks......

Jay has golfed 3 times

made friends with all the neighborhood boys

got laid off from Q & D

is now out of town but under employs.....

In 6 weeks.......

I have missed reading all my blogs

worked way to much

saw Marilyn Manson

and I'm now back in touch.

In 6 weeks.....

I have read too many books

ridden my bike

lost 14 lbs.

and now love to hike........

In 6 weeks........