Week 1 Day 3

5 mins 4.0
5 mins 6.5
14 reps at 7 stations
2 mins 6.5
14 reps 7 stations
2 mins 6.5
15 seconds 10.0
30 mins sauna

Yeah! I did a week of the strength training!

Hmmm

Even if you aren't strong at Math, you should be able to figure out that buying 3 at .33 is better than three for $1.00

Week 1 Day 2

1 hour of yoga
4 mins 4.0
5 mins 6.5
7 stations, 14 reps each
2 mins elliptical
7 stations, 14 reps each
2 mins elliptical
18 mins sauna

Strength training seemed harder today. Hope it's easier next time, too early to quit the program! LOL

Surprise Bday Party in Texas........

Well I wasn't lucky enough to go, but did just get a recap from my mom on the weekend events. Here's how her weekend went for those of us that want to live vicariously through her!!

Mom, Dad, Pat, & Mary hopped a plane from sunny & warm Arizona to sunny & warm Texas (that right there is pretty rough!). I had talked to them in the days leading up to the event & one day they were driving, the next flying, the next NOT going at all, then they were gonna drive, then the next hour they were gonna fly, then drive, then finally, what was probably 24 hours before they left, they got a flight and flew out on Friday. Mom had her bags packed for driving & then had to repack for the flight! Man, all that right there give ME a headache & I wasn't even going!!

When they got there, they went to Terry & Meg's house which is where they stayed for the 3 nights. Big fancy mansion. Had drinks & appetizers at their house Fri night. Eugene, Karen & their girls got to Texas on Thursday I think & they stayed at Jeff & Julie's mansion.

Saturday they all went on one of Norb's yacht's. He has two. Jill's husband Alan is the only one that knows how to drive the thing so he was their captain. They took a 2 hour cruise with drinks & food. Also on the ship were two couples from Naperville, IL, friends from when they lived there.

Saturday night was the big surprise party. They had told Pat they were having a *family* dinner for her, but she didn't want to go because I guess Nolan Ryan's mother-in-law passed away & she wanted to attend those services. They told her it was alright, to go to her family dinner. Boy was she surprised that not only her immediately family was there, but 100 or so of her other family & close friends too!!

Meal fit for a king & drinks aplenty, although Rose now wonders why she didn't drink more. One beer & a wine was it for her. I'm sure other Walter's in attendance made up for her ;-) Big band also played for the party. Nicole & Mark drove up from Austin for the evening as well.

Sunday they all gathered at Terry & Meg's for a catered meal & visit.

Monday they flew from Sunny Texas back to Sunny Arizona.

It's Tuesday afternoon in Minnesota & I get to look out my window and see white BEAUTIFUL snowflakes gently falling to the ground. Yes, you can be jealous of that in Arizona!!!

*** Few notes....cousin Jill is pregnant with her second girl & due in July. Cousin Jeff has a new business that he is trying to get franchised. Sounded like a Cold Stone Creamery with it being ice cream cookie sandwiches or something. She told me the name but I forgot.

WOW

I've got 2 more appointments for plasma donation this week. I think I'll be skipping it the month of March. They changed the payout schedule and although you get paid the same amount for the whole month, it's different for each visit. I was hoping to do it every other week & with how they pay now, that wouldn't work for me.

At my last appointment, the guy next to me was talking with the technician & telling her he used to donate 8 years ago & then asked her what has changed in that time. She said the big thing was the time it took. Back then it took around 3 hours for the whole process. Today, I'm usually done in 90 mintues, sometimes 75. Then he said how the payout back then was a 20/30 split so about $200/month. Today it's $240/mo. It's gone up a WHOPPIN' $40 in 8 years!!!!!

But, as shocking as that was.....here was the part that really got us. The technician told us what they get on Average....for our bag of plasma. Are you sitting down!? They get about $1000. for EACH bag we give!!!!!! Wholly crap!!! Even if they double what they pay us...say $50/time....that's still a ton of profit!

While I like doing it for the extra money, time away, & helping others, it's been hard to get there 2x/week. SO I guess we'll see what the payment plan is for April. They were just testing Feb & March to see how this new plan went. I hope they change it back.

New Workout Plan...Week 1 Day 1

Well I haven't been able to set up my fitness blog so I have to keep track here I guess. So you can skip reading since this is pretty much notes to myself! Stacie, you can keep reading if you want, maybe you'll get some new ideas for when you are done w/ the couch25k program;-)

I haven't reached my goal weight yet & so I really need to try something else. I've been working out for 5 months now & I guess I need to try something else to see if I can't reach the goal in the next few months. Back in October when I started I had a number that I wanted to reach by March. Well I never documented what that number was, but I think I'm there but now I have a NEW number (my wedding weight number..which back then I felt fat & now long to be that size, funny huh!?!) cause I still have some problem areas I don't like. So I need to lose 10 pounds, 15 would be better. Shouldn't be hard right? Damn it is! I almost think it's easier to have a larger number to lose than smaller. If people can lose 20, 30, 40, or even 50 pounds, why is 10 so hard!?!? Come on body, it's really not that much, why are you doing this to me!?!? I would like to get there so I can lessen up my gym visits cause I'm starting to get burnt out. Thus the reason to try something new too I suppose.

My usual routine has been pretty much the treadmill, maybe a little elliptical here & there. And why not play on the weight machines a little too. Basically zero on that, maybe 5 - 10 mins a week.

The gym has recently added an infrared sauna like this one. Hmmm now that I google it & see the price, maybe we skip our vacation plans this year & get one of these for home. It'd lessen my time at the gym!! So anyhow, I've used it a few times & still skeptical about how it says 30 mins sitting in it is comparable to a 30 min workout. Well I was talking to a girl who was in there the same time as me about that & she had a heart rate monitor on & her heart rate was 120 while sitting there, her normal rest rate I think she said was around 60. So I guess I would consider it a light workout, like compared to 30 mins on the bike or something. So last night I was in there & again conversing with another member & he was one of the lucky ones that got chosen for the FREE TRAINER program they had started 3 weeks ago. They choose 10 people, I signed up but didn't get picked. Anyhow, he told me what they are having him do & I'm gonna try the plan on my own for 6 or 8 weeks & see what happens. It's really quite simple. I did it tonight & really got sore from it! I've never been sore in the 5 months I've been working out so it's obvious to me I'm working muscles I haven't worked yet!

This is what I did tonight & will do the same 2 more times this week. They say 3x week. I go to the gym more than that so I'll probably do my 45-60 mins of cardio on my off days. It was so wierd tonight just doing 15 mins of cardio!

Ok, so first I warmed up by walking on the treadmill at a good pace (4.0) for 5 mins. Then I ran for 5 mins (6.5). Then I immediately went to the weight machines. There are enough machines to vary it up, but the plan is to do 14 reps at 7 different stations. I did that.......and then back to the treadmill for a 2 min run ( I think I did 6.5 -7.0) to get the heart rate back up again. Then after that back to the stations.....7 of them again doing 14 reps at each station. Then I hit the elliptical for 2 mins, very fast. The whole thing should take about 30 mins, I was done in 28, so I went to the treadmill & ran for another 2 mins at 6.0 or 6.5, can't remember.

Then I sat in the sauna for 30 minutes.

Have I mentioned how sore I am right now!? Holy, that was a workout I am not used to for sure!! I'll have to watch the weights next time, I think I may have done a couple of machines a little too high!!

Hopefully I'm back on track now with something new to do. I really liked the Couch25k program cause it gave me something to follow. I hope this does the same. BTW, the guy I talked to last night (who was overweight & just joined/started exercising in January also started weight watchers. He's lost 15 pounds so far he said.) So he's doing great sticking to his New Year's Resolution!

Cheers!

Looks like they had a good time at the surprise birthday party for Pat Walter!

Marshall Tournament

1st place win!

 

Harley Momma

Nick laughed at my shirt today...asked why I was wearing it?! I needed a black shirt to go with my headband & it was the only long sleeve one I had!!

 

See what Tyler's teaching her!?!?

 

Wrestling Fans!

Ashley & Tyler were in Marshall this weekend visiting his folks and it worked out for them to come watch Nick today! Thanks for coming guys! (Just to clarify, Ty's sticking his tongue out at Lexi, not me! LOL He loves his future Auntie ;-) (at least I think he does!)

 

Belated Birthday Picture!

Happy 41st Phil!

 

Marshall Match 2 Part 1

We went to Marshall today for Nick's last wrestling meet before the State meet. There were 3 in his group today & he took 1st place again. The second match I had to split in two cause the other kid got a bloody nose during the match so had to get it plugged up so we could continue.

His first match today was probably his best match of the season. He really did good & tried some new moves today that worked for him. Check out his dance moves!

I panned the audience to catch a shot of Tyler & Ashley who came to watch today, but I don't have good zoom on the camera so you can't see them. Ashley, you might be able to find yourself if you look hard! LOL

Match 2 Part 2

Match #1 Marshall Tournament

I don't know if it was a legal move or not, but watch Nick put his elbow into the kids' head! I felt bad for that boy, you could see the pain in his face!

Match #2

1st Match

St Peter Meet

We went to St Peter today for a wrestling meet. Nick was the LIGHTEST weight of the 4 in his class. That was a first! He was 104 today & the 2nd place boy (heaviest) was 119! Nick took 1st place today! Way to go Nick!

 

Poor Fred...

He was attacked by the kids today at the wrestling meet!

 

Ice Fishing

Ice Fishing Contest

I took Nick & Zander over to St Peter today for a kids ice fishing contest. It was the first time ice fishing for all of us! I said it had to be at least 25 degrees for me to go....it hit 30 today!

For some reason Nick decided to put his hand in the water.....WITH his glove on. Not a smart move. And he did that pretty much right away. Next time we'll be smart & bring chairs too.

They gave prizes to the top 4 fish that were caught....but there were ONLY 3 fish caught today!! I'm guessing there were about 200-225 kids fishing & only three caught fish. And we weren't one of those. The biggest was a whoppin' 3 ounces, followed by 1.5 oz & 3rd place went to the 1 oz fish!

Zander & Nick both won prizes (all kids won a door prize). Zander got a small tackle box with 72 jigs & Nick won $5 in St Peter chamber bucks. We spent 45 mins when we were done trying to spend it. Dollar General wouldn't take it, Family Dollar would but Nick couldn't find anything there he wanted. So we went to the grocery store (St Peter has NOTHING for stores!!) & I thought he could pick up a sports magazine or something but nothing there. So I ended up buying a book of postage stamps there & gave him $5 in cash!

Boo

So we had 2 or 3 days of going on the potty almost every time.......and then today. Zilch, nothing, nada, not even once. What the heck?

Here's hoping tomorrow we get the little guy to go pee pee in the potty like Joshua does (the potty video he watches!!) The song just STICKS in your head.......yes I'm going to my potty potty........yes I'm going to my potty potty.

Yeah!!!

Could it be!? Are we on the road to NO MORE DIAPERS in this house!?!? Zachary has been going in the potty here & there for the last month I suppose. He likes to copy his big brother & most of the time just stands there. A couple of times something actually came out. But today.......he did ALL Of his pee's in the toilet! This morning when he woke up.......and then 3 more times today!!

*nandy* & *pee in the potty* go together here & he has it all figured out he'll get a piece of candy everytime he pees in the potty.

He has NO desire to go poop on the toilet yet but at least we are getting a start here. The other three were trained at 2 1/2 so I didn't plan on starting with him until May! He's way ahead of his siblings on this milestone ;-)

Hmmmmm

So I had card night tonight with the ladies. I always like going for various reasons. To get out of the house for a few hours, to talk with other ADULTS, to try other drinks, etc.....Ok, so one person is in charge of drinks & the other snacks & we rotate. I love trying different drinks & not having to buy a whole bottle myself to see if I'll like it or not. So tonight we have this Bahama Momma drink & it's already premixed, you just drink it on the rocks. Well the girl brought a whole bottle & her husband instructed her not to bring any home. So I said "when do we NOT finish a bottle?" Cause I don't recall anything ever being left when I go. This other gal said well there has been a couple of times she went home with some......and then she said "oh, both those times, YOU weren't here!"

Hmmmmmm so what is that saying about ME!??!?!

Water Park

An overview pic of the waterpark. You can see me if you look close enough! LOL On the other side was a huge waterslide and a bigger pool with a basketball hoop. I think I went down that waterslide about 20 or 30 times! It was so fun! Zander was tall enough that he could go down it as well but I had to catch him at the end. He LOVED it too.

 

Zach & the Snake

Zachary took a ride.....and there's Lexi too!

 

Spectators!

Lucy, Jean, & Ben checking out the swimmers!

 

The SNAKE!

Zander & Zachary gettin' a little ride on the snake. And yes that is me.......pickin' my nose......or scratchin' it or something! Thanks Phil, love the shot!

 

Nick & the Lilypads

He had a blast on these things!

 

Blah....

Lexi...sticking her tongue out at me! Nice.

 

Mmmmmm

Zander enjoying a piece of the Spiderman cake! Mmmmmmm

 

Frozen Swimsuits

After we got done swimming I just threw all the suits in a bag & left them in the van overnight. Well this morning, the kids decided they wanted to swim in our pool (we stayed at a different hotel than where the birthday party was). I told them the suits are gonna be frozen as it probably got to 10 below overnight! Phil came back with them & they were frozen together & even had some ice crystals on them! Well we put them in some hot water & the kids took off to the pool!

 

Happy 1st Birthday Ben!

We went to Sioux Falls yesterday to celebrate Ben's 1st Birthday! It was our first hotel stay with all of us....Zachary's first time in a hotel. Not sure if I'd want to go with him again!! He missed his nap yesterday, fell asleep two minutes before we got to the hotel....so he got about a five minute nap. With as busy as he was swimming and all we thought for sure he'd go to sleep nice & thought EVERYONE would sleep in. Ha.

Zachary was the last to fall asleep and about 4:00 woke up. He was in bed with Lexi & got out of bed & started walking around the room! Phil got up & went to the bathroom & so then I got Zach in bed by me & told Phil to go sleep with Lexi. Zachary tossed & turned for the next HOUR. Have NO idea what was up with him. He should of been dead tired. Sucked. He did finally fall back to sleep & everyone was up before 8:00.

He fell asleep on the drive home (about 1:00) & we were able to carry him to bed when we got home so he could sleep some more but at 4:30 we said he had a long enough nap & woke him up!

Water Park

Kids LOVED the water park! Nick has on Yellow shorts & at the end you get a quick shot of Jean & Ben (his first time in a pool!) (she has a towel on)

Zander & his Horn

What you miss out on if you Winter in ARIZONA!

We left and got about 5 miles from home & the roads were bad.....but we kept going & it got worse. It was bad for the first 20-30 miles but then once we switched directions it was better. I was waiting for Phil to turn around & say FORGET IT! Some idiot stopped RIGHT in front of us near Madelia. Not sure what he was doing but STOPPING when you can't see two feet in front of you is NOT the smart thing to do!

Here's a little of what we drove through, the really bad parts I had my eyes shut so didn't get that taped!

We Made It!

This was the good part.

Weight Loss Incentive....

I went to the Plasma Center tonight & when I was all done I was talking to the technician & mentioned how one lady started after me & got done sooner. She said she probably didn't have to donate as much. I know they mentioned weights when I first started but I didn't pay attention. Well I'm close to the next level so I really need to work on losing about 7-10 pounds so I don't have to donate as much....thus the time will be shorter!! Also have to watch what I wear. I knew I had on heavy shoes today...my weight was 5 pounds more than the other day I was in!

I also need to eat more foods high in protein. The range is like 37-60 & my number today was 37....if it would of been lower I wouldn't of been able to donate!

Guess I'll be putting peanut butter on my toast instead of butter!

Bock Fest 2008

I finally went to Bock Fest...it's only been an annual event for 22 years now! I can't believe they've had it that long but I'm pretty sure that was what I heard them say. Here is a little recap & pics of the people that found the hidden Bocks.

I went with Ashley & Tyler. We stayed warm by the fire but if I go next year I think I'll for sure wear my snow pants, otherwise I was warm.

There was a record crowd this year with close to 6500 I think. We managed to avoid the long bathroom lines.....no we didn't go in the woods, we just cut in line! That worked.

Note for myself....

I haven't been able to start my fitness blog yet, so I'll just have to make the note here so I remember!

I thought I broke a record today at the gym, but in looking over an old post I don't think I did. Well I sort of did I guess.

I ran for 35 or 36 mins today & I think it was 3.2 miles and then I walked & then ran again for another 1/2 mile for a total of 3.7 miles. I ended up walking/running a total of 5 miles at 60 minutes.

I think there is something to letting the body rest because I didn't go to the gym for 2 days & today I could run. The other day I wanted to do a distance run but couldn't & stopped at 20 mintues. Today I made it.

So I could be ready for the Fools Five, granted I can walk a mile or two of it!!