Day Four

Am so proud of myself!  This morning I was in a meeting that started early enough that I couldn't get out for my morning walk.  I was pretty worried that this would mean the demise of the exercise portion of the 30-day challenge.  Then I thought I would just walk up to meet Wee Man at the bus stop; the round trip, walking very briskly would be about 40 minutes.  It was like the no exercise gods were out to get me today; the wind and rain started up something fierce and I knew the walk to the bus was not happening.

Wee Man, as it turns out, is totally sick.  He's running a fever and needed some TLC that only a Mom can deliver.  The plan to take him with me to the gym was now out too.  

After loads of love and attention the Wee Man drifted off and I made my break.  The gym was very unappealing at this point, so I bundled up, and walked to the library to return my giant sack of books, then to the video store, to return my giant stack of movies (and got more), got some cash for Saturday night, and made my way back home.  How productive was that???  Good gravy!  I am so stoked right now.

In the face of adversity I prevailed!  Go, me!

Still no sugar.

I walked a fine line at Whole Foods today; was my curried wheatberry salad (best.  salad. ever.) considered a take-away?  After much deliberation, I decided it was not.  If I'd indulged in their sandwiches or such like, it defo would've been a take-away.  I reasoned it out that we buy that salad as a side dish, so it couldn't be considered a take-away.  There is a bit of guilt there though.

I'm really proud of myself right now and it feels good.

Now, I shall put on my Super Mummy hat and go sneak in Wee Man's room to make sure he's okay.

A.

Day Three

Day three is over, and again I did very well!  Hooray!

Exercise? ✓
No sugar? ✓
No take-aways? ✓

The bed time I set out for myself seems to be a much more difficult task; I just don't like going to bed early. Last night I didn't go to bed until midnight, despite the goal of lights out by 10:30 a.m.

Some really great news is, I came home for lunch today (I was busy running errands) and made a super yummy sandwich.  This is great news because I was so close to just getting a sandwich from somewhere healthy, with the caveat that at least it was healthy.  What is one of my goals?  NO TAKE-AWAYS!  I can't believe that on only the third day I almost caved.  Actually I can.  I am so amazed at how many times I buy food, coffee, and junk!  This is shaping up to be a great reality check.

I have noticed my mood and energy levels are great in the morning (once I'm out on my walk in the forest), but by late-ish evening I am so sluggish.  Tonight I have a headache and I'm pretty sure it's my body complaining about the low sugar levels.  I guess my body will still be trying to function as normal; normal being a huge amount of sugar.  My guess is that by the end of this week I'll be feeling much better.

Saturday is a bit of a bummer because I am going to buy my one take-away meal allotted for the month.  In actuality I don't want to buy any take-aways at all, but one of my closest friends is having her birthday and I can't really miss her celebratory dinner and evening out.  It does make me a bit sad to not have a full 30 days.  Then again, if I try in December I'll have all the excuses of 'the season'.  At least I am making a commitment to myself.  And really, what would life be like if there was no flexibility?  It still does bum me out though because I know I could do this.  Alas, time to move on and not focus on a future hiccup.

Bime for ted.

A.

Cascade curls.

Despite being a bit of a dirty find, I recently (literally) stumbled upon a step-by-step of how to do cascade curls.  I was taking pictures outside an abandoned old folks home and someone had thrown the beauty manual out of the window.  It's too bad that most of the pages had blown away because it would've been nice to have a retro hairstyles instruction manual!

I think I'll try this out tonight on my own hair and see how it goes.

Day Two

DAY TWO has begun with a bit of a rocky start; I feel so tired!  I noticed last night, after Wee Man was down to bed, that I was really struggling with the no sugar thing.  It seems like as soon as he's in bed, we gather up loads of crappy foods, sit down and either watch the telly, chat, or read.  All of those things are pretty good, except for the obvious - the crappy food.

Emotional eating is my thing.  So last night I patted myself on the back for passing by the giant bowl of Hallowe'en candy, despite my heart being broken by Wee Man; he told me he didn't like me.

Good news is, I squeezed my moderately fat arse into my walking yoga pants, oh yes people, they do have those, and went for a 40 minute very brisk walk through the forest.  When I say very brisk walk, I'm not sure if it really was.  It felt like it.  There was a gray haired granny coming up quickly behind me, so I may be in worse shape than previously thought.

Also, I guess I need to start drinking water.  Why do I hate water so much?!  Sometimes when I'm downing what seems to be my 800th glass of H20 I think of all the people who would die (literally) to have it, just to try and encourage myself to drink it.  Who am I kidding?  I can't even remember the last time I had a glass of water.  Sick.

Day One

DAY ONE of my 30-day challenge has started off well, although this is to be expected. At the end of this week it'll be interesting to see where I'm at and how I'm feeling.

Waking up to the sun shining again was really nice; I almost thought I'd slept in! The change definitely made for an easier time getting up and out of bed.

After sending Wee Man off on the school bus, I went for a very pleasant walk for 40 minutes. The sun was shining, the air was chilly, but not too cold. All in all, it was a great way to start my day. Actually it was a funny reminder today that winter is on it's way, when I heard people scraping the frost off of their windshields.

When I got home from the walk I immediately started taking down all of the Hallowe'en decorations outside. Then I prepped the garage for two cars being in it instead of just one; the frost covered my car this morning! I spent about half an hour sweeping and rearranging the garage, so I got a bit of exercise and a lot of satisfaction from that.

The no sugar thing is going pretty well. I say pretty well because I reached for the strawberry jam for my toast this morning and realized it was off limits. Also, when I went to move the Hallowe'en candy (of which there is a sick amount), I went to dip my sugar loving paw into the bowl for a confectionary delight, but I resisted. The Hallowe'en candy is going to be an issue. None of us need the candy, including Wee Man. A friend of mine in B.C. is going to tell her daughter about the "Switch Witch". Who's that you ask? She is the lovely witch that will switch all of your Hallowe'en treats into a nice new toy. What a great idea! I am going to try that this evening with our son.

I figured now is a good time to blog because I really want to snack on something sugary and yummy, but this is a much better way to spend my time. The washer and dryer have just stopped, so I'll occupy my time with that now.

So far, so good.

The sun'll come out, tomorrow.

I keep hearing about 30-day exercise challenges. I've even known a few people to do them. I guess because I don't know how, or maybe just refuse to follow what others do, my 30-day challenge will have a twist. Yes, there will be exercise, but there will be less exercising my right to sugar and ridiculous spending.

Tomorrow brings with it a promise to not eat sugar for 30-days. My body, heart and soul love sugar. The way it dissolves in my mouth, my tongue enrobed with it's lusciousness... ahhh. However, my health is taking a toll, so I need to challenge myself in order to shake up my oh 30 year love affair with my sugary sweet love.

Also, there will be not one take-away, food court, drive-thru meal. No matter how healthy a take-away can be, I will not be having one. Of course when I mentioned this to a friend of mine, she immediately said, "But what about my birthday?". I was a bit miffed for various reasons that need not be discussed here, but I will give in for that one meal (NOT the whole day that I'll be spending with her). Of course my Mom's birthday cake will also have to be a small amount of sugar ingested. Isn't it crazy? Thing is, people get really hurt when you don't share in their food celebrations. Should I outright refuse? I want to. Not because I don't care for, or love these people (or all the rest of the peeps that would want the same from me), but because I want to challenge myself and win!

Starting tomorrow the shit may hit the sugar-free fan.

To sum this up, here is what my 30-day challenge is:

1. 30+ minutes of continuous exercise that gets my heart rate up, everyday for the next 30 days.
2. No sugar. I will be eating things such as potatoes and bread, etc. I just won't be eating candies, ice cream, cakes, etc, etc.
3. No take-aways; food court trips; drive-thrus, etc.
4. I'll blog daily about all of this.
5. Go to bed every weeknight by 10 p.m., and lights out by 10:30 p.m. Weekends will be business as usual.

I will review and total the number of dollars we as a family spent during the last month on crap foods. Then at the end of my 30-day challenge, I will let you know how much money I've saved. Also, I am going to try to convince my husband not to buy his lunches on a daily basis. The likelihood is that I'll have to make his lunches for him, but I don't mind. I just really want us to see how much our buying these meals that we don't even normally enjoy (!) is effecting our bank account and our general well being.

This experience will no doubt be difficult, but I'm up for the challenge. If any of you would like to join me in any of the challenges I've laid out for myself, or something you've thought of, please let me know.

A.

Soul searching.

It's amazing that I just turned 35. Where the hell did the time go? I'm half way to 70. Good lord.

Lately I find myself searching, but I don't even know for what. There's this push to do something with my life. Yes, I am happily married, have the best kid in the world (don't even try to pretend your kid is better than mine), lovely family (both blood and marriage related), fantastic friends, etc, etc. What more could a gal want?

A career in photography? That'd be nice. (cue shameless plug) If you haven't already checked out my photos, please do so: http://www.flickr.com/honig

Freelance writing? Also a very fine idea. Thank you for reading my blog.

When I was younger I was painfully shy. I had two nicknames that stuck with me for the duration of middle school; pinky and Casper, oh yeah and fog patch. You get the idea, right? White as a ghost unless I'm otherwise embarrassed, or sun burned, neither of which took much effort.

Through my twenties my blushing continued and was considered endearing, cute even. Granted my level of confidence increased greatly starting at about age 24 and continued for the next handful of years. During the confidence years, my blushing was usually kept for especially embarrassing moments, or even moments of being in the spotlight.

Now that I'm in my thirties, I am blushing more, my confidence has changed, and I get embarrassed really easily. Even though I get nervous speaking with strangers, I make a valiant attempt to do so in front of my son. It's important for him to see me socializing and having enough confidence and chutzpah to speak to people I don't know. They are after all, just people.

Recently I joined the Parents' Association at my son's school; so far so good. The really annoying thing is that I've reverted to my middle school days as far as embarrassment and shyness. What the?? I find that I've got so many great ideas (yes, I'm biased, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong!) but I never voice them. Inevitably a couple of ideas have been thought of by other members, but still, I should be speaking up.

I need to take charge. Everyone around me, and most importantly, me, can only benefit from this very key change.

On the note of change, I have decided to tighten the old purse strings a bit. Shoving vanilla latte after vanilla latte down my gullet is making my waist line expand and my wallet shrink. It's sick and wrong. I fell into the trap of a major coffee chain again, and I don't like it. Wasting money is stupid.

My goal is to shake up many aspects of my life (again) and make a commitment (again) to myself. Here are the things I'd like to adhere to:

1. Only one vanilla latte per week.
2. No more shopping for clothing (for me) until 2010. And no, this does not mean that I can go nutso on January 1, 2010.
3. I must go to the gym at least 3 times per week. Note: # 1- #3 go together very well. If I stop the regular coffee shop purchases, and go to the gym, I won't need to go shopping for clothing because I already have a wonderful selection of clothing for someone with less avoir du poids!
4. Cakes, pies, etc can only be purchased for special occasions.
5. If I want cookies, I have to make them.
6. One take-away meal per week only. Friday night is the perfect time for this.
7. I will become a flyer whore. Researching the best deals only makes sense. The corporations do not need any more of our money!
8. A plan will be set to help with the following: spending less and all the cool techniques for this (I am SO good at this... at least the plan bit) & improving my self-esteem.
9. Start a website strictly for my more artsy photographs.
10. Try my hand at freelance online writing.

That's enough for now (ya think??). Just like me to get all gung ho (where does that phrase come from?) and overwhelm myself.

The good news is, today after the P.A. meeting I was starving, but I went home for lunch instead of my usual behaviour of going out for shopping and eating. Well done, me.

\,,/(^^)\,,/

Allison