iVillage Always Sucks Me In

So yesterday was the first day of the iVillage Get Moving Now challenge.  I kind of forgot that I'd signed up for it but iVillage ALWAYS sucks me in.  I don't know what it is...besides unexplainable...but if they put a challenge out there, I'm there to sign up.  And I'm not the one who loves a good challenge.  So what the heck?!  Anyways, this one seemed healthy and...well...I don't know what else because there isn't even a prize or anything!  And you can't measure your success with anything other than feeling more healthy.  Like I said...iVillage SUCKS ME IN!

So it looks like they are splitting the challenge up into weeks.  This week's theme: Outdoor Activities.  The first assignment was to play in the dirt.  Do some gardening.  Get my hands dirty.  Well...they didn't know who they were messing with, did they!

Last night Ms Abby and I went out back and while she played with her outside toys and pulling up all the watering tubing, I pulled weeds.  For twenty minutes we did this.  Abby was content in her reconstruction of what needed to be watered so I kept weeding.  Until she was finished. :)

Then...get this...after she went to bed and I had dinner and Jason got home...I went for a walk.  The tire on my stroller really needed to get fixed so yes, as I alluded to the possibility of yesterday, I went for a walk with an empty stroller.  Hey--it's not as bad as the lady who pushes a Siberian Husky around in one over by my mom's.  I wonder how many of those looks were people wondering if I knew the stroller was empty?

All in all, I'd say day one of the challenge was a success.  I may feel healthy as a bonus but the really good parts: I got a good chunk of weeding done AND got the tire on the stroller fixed.  Yah!

Today's challenge just came in...  Pay attention to how many steps you take.  I do have a pedometer...I'll have to track that down.  They say to find a mile-long route (clock in your car if need be) and make a goal to walk that every day of the challenge.  Well...on a good start there--I've done this and walked my route last night.  So...so far so good. :)

Happy Tuesday!

Wild Weekend...NOT. Fullfilled Weekend...YES!

So...Friday ended on a note.  Jason was busted from a short-made-long week.
**insert note: I had this discussion a couple times with a couple different people.  Why is it that short weeks, where we get a day off and the work week only has to be four days, ALWAYS feels like two weeks squeezed into one?  And it's a short one at that?!  note over**
I was ready for the weekend.  Heather and Bella rode over to say "Hi" and Bella thought I should wake Abby up so she could say "Hi" to her too.  Cause Heather's two years from having a one-year-old, I forgive her but my response to her cute daughter was still "Are you crazy?"  Oh well...I can just hope that Bella forgives me.  We watched some stand up--Big Fan: Kathleen Madigan--and I went to bed.

Saturday I went to the Davis Farmers Market with Ashlee/Maddie and Carrie.  Got some goodies for Capay Tomato and had fun with the girls cruising the market.  (is there a country song in that sentence somewhere?)  I'm so glad Abby is still rocking the backpack--it's AWESOME!  I've taken to calling it the Abby-pack.  She took a nice-enough (read OK-long-enough) nap and we were off to Capay Tomato!  Between the market and the tomato festival (OK, there's GOT to be a country song in that!), I think I might have walked enough, and sweat enough because it was 95 degrees and I was outside (!), to burn off almost what I ended up eating! :)  All in all, Capay Tomato was a raging success--great family time, AWESOME bluegrass music, good food and the breeze that picked up in the afternoon was heavenly.  Abby hasn't quit dancing since...commercials, the radio, some sound in her head... :)

Yesterday was a restore-sanity day...and I think it almost worked.  Abby was having a hard time communicating what she wanted and was getting frustrated.  So what was a mom to do but stick her in the Abby-pack, grab my coffee and head out for a 45-minute walk.  It was awesome--the perfect time of day--and Abby chatted my ear off.  Her baby-nonsense-jibber-jabber is my favorite sound right now.  I could listen to her "talk" to me forever.  I'm almost in the mood to tape it and play for when she's older and I just want her to shut up. :)

So it's Monday again.  And I'm glad.  I love routine...I'm most comfortable when the expected it happening.  And it's a big week.  My baby girl turns one on Wednesday!  YIKES and OMG!

Eating...I can't believe that after years and years of eating oatmeal for breakfast that I still am surprised when it doesn't last much past 10am and I start getting HUNGRY...not just hungry but HUNGRY.  Snack is required on oatmeal days.  Katie--you are almost 35 years old and you should be at a place to start remembering things!

Exercise--it's too hot.  I'm just saying.  But Abby's stroller has a flat tire and I'm thinking that tonight I'll have Jason put that tire sludge in the tire and take it for a spin (because you have to use the tire right after putting it in so it coats the inside really well, or something like that).  Hey...maybe if he does it when he gets home, I'll take her (instead of being the weirdo who pushes an empty stroller) and see if she'll fall asleep in it.  Or she'll fit for so long that I'll end up being the mom who is pushing an empty stroller and carrying her baby who is happy as a lark as long as she's riding mom instead of the stroller.  Uggg! :)  We'll see what the evening holds...wish me luck.

Happy Monday!

Big Fan: Stroller Strides

So...yesterday I tried Stroller Strides for the first time.  Basically a work out with the kiddos and strollers.  Fun.  And I'm not crazy sore today but I do have that tired-all-over feeling that is slightly invigorating.  And it was fun to see all the kids and this great group of women who are all perfect exactly as they are.

Ice cream is almost gone from my house again...and it needs to be!  Although, this heat is easier to bare with a taste of ice cream.

Today is Friday!  Yah!

Big Fan: Ice Cream

Major fail: I bought ice cream.  It was on sale, chocolate was SCREAMING out for me, and it was so hot here that I thought it might melt on the way home.

But now it's in my house.  And that means that I can't think about anything else.  I will end up eating it all and that is bad.  But I'm learning.  It's been a long time since I've bought ice cream and this is reminding me why.  I need to not buy ice cream.  It needs to be in the house for a special occasion or reason...and it being on sale is not a special occasion or reason.

Stating the obvious seems to be important.  Hopefully it'll help...

Back to It!

So...the heat finally caught up with me and my little family and we all ended up in bad moods by early yesterday afternoon.  Solution: go to Sac family's house for 4th BBQ!  HUGE motivation was their pool, I have to admit.  And it definitely did the trick.  Ms Abby got in a pool for the first time ever...and LOVED it!  We have a crazy water bug on our hands.  Absolutely no fear.  Oh well...I pretty much knew from the start that my hands would be full with her. :)

I did not get a walk in yesterday but Mom and I did hit Target and F4L...but I'm not claiming that counts at all. :)

Best news of the day--my co-worker is back from maternity leave today.  YAH!  She's been missed!
Happy Tuesday!

Big Fan: Long Weekends!

My sweetie seems to relax the minute he walks in the door, the prospect of extra time with Ms Abby is exciting and--amazingly enough--I have planned nothing for the whole weekend!  Including the extra day! :)

Last night Mom made dinner--yah!--and we had it over at her house so when we got home, there were no dishes to be washed and barely anything to tidy up.  Oh--and as always, after a day with Gma Cathie, Ms Abby was POOPED!  She didn't even fight the bed--felt like she was barely tolerating her bath just so she could go to bed--and fell asleep before I even left the room.

This would have been the perfect time to go for a walk.  The sun was almost down, the house was quiet, J had sat down for his nightly review of the world and what was happening...but I have to admit, I did not walk.  I sat down in the big chair and read my book (Firefly Lane, 5 Ladies and a Baby book club) for...wait for it...three hours!  So fail on the walking but here's the success: I did not snack.  The entire time.  I was tempted but when I really thought about what I wanted, or if I was really hungry, it was never enough to get up.  Yah Katie :)

Darn Summer Ginger and that darn book though.  When I finally went to bed, I couldn't fall asleep because I kept thinking about the book so I stayed up and read more until my eyes were crossing.  And then I got up this morning--after J got up with Ms Abby and let me sleep in--and finished it! :)

OK...one last surprise.  After playing with Ms Abby for a while, and drinking a cup of coffee, I decided to get my walk on.  And when I went to tell J, he wanted to go too.  Yah!  So we went on a family walk, J tried out the backpack (and LOVED it) and all got a little sweaty.  Ms Abby was almost falling asleep so she was ready for her nap--no fight--when we go home.  Nice conversation, almost too hot but not quite, and we all got a little sweaty--in a good way! :)

Now it's a day of WHATEVER THE HECK I/WE WANT!  Sounds like we're going to the library (I have a book ready to be picked up) and to the Guad for some food and fun.  Yah!

Happy 4th of July weekend!

July 1--Oh My!

Half the year is over! OMG!

Last night Ms Abby and I took off for a 30 minute walk that only ended up being 20 minutes. I am having a hard time making her look directly into the sun for very long and my options for shaded paths are few. I think the route I took Wednesday night is better for her. Once again, she rode like a champ and I'm feeling good for the extra exercise.

It's the first of the month so for me, it's also weigh in day. Up from last month but that wasn't unexpected. My clothes have been fitting a little tighter and I've been bad about watching what I eat (and drink--those coffees have been a lifeline this month!). Also, let's be honest--a bad side effect of starting an exercise routine is that you do gain a little weight right at first. I'm not bummed. I'm actually feeling stronger and ready to settle in and do this.

And if I'm honest with myself--it's for a lot of reasons that has nothing to do with wanting to be healthy. I'm a perfectionist so...I love that it's the first day of the month (from this day forward...) and that my weight was a round number (no pesky partial pounds to worry about). I've been here before. What will make this time different, I don't know. Maybe a place to write about it? Who knows...