Things Not to Do While Eating Paleo

We've been eating the "Paleo plan" or "diet" or whatever you choose to call it (it's not a diet, it's a way of thinking about food, but I won't get on my soapbox) for almost a month. I know that somewhere out there ("beneath the pale moonlight...") there's someone wondering about Paleo and what to avoid while doing it. Well, here's what I've learned so far.

Avoid missing meals
If you've ever had the "low blood sugar blahs" then this is 500x worse. At least at our house it's like someone's Bringing Cranky Back in full swing. Your frontal lobe of your brain which controls good decision making, tact, and what facial expressions to make just doesn't work well on no food. So carry snacks and listen to your body (as opposed to a clock that says it's lunch time).

Don't forget prep time
Take into account prep time for meals. Many of us came to eat Paleo from The Fast Food Nation. "We are hungry and want it now!" Well, it doesn't work that way when you're using real and fresh ingredients my friend. There is nothing (except maybe veggies) frozen here. So plan on prepping and cooking for at least 30 minutes if not more. Again, keep snacks for while you wait. We like beef jerky and celery with almond butter (instead of peanut butter). Also, if you want you can chop up often used foods (like onions and garlic) ahead of time to cut some of the prep time. We keep them in the fridge in storage bags and just take out what we need.

Don't expect it to be cheap
Starting a Paleo pantry can be expensive especially if you come from The Fast Food Nation. There are spices, types of flour (see the next section), and meat to be purchased. Lots of meat. And vegetables. Lots of vegetables. And a food processor would be super helpful (we just got ours today and it roooocks!).

Don't expect to find recipe ingredients at your local market
Unless you live in Awesome Land (and I don't even know where that is), you may not find all that you're looking for at one store. For example, I found almond butter, coconut flour, and almond flour at H.E.B. The almond flour was $12.99 for a 1 lb bag. No joke. I found 1 lb bags of almond meal (just fine thank you) at Trader Joe's for...wait for it...$3.99 each. I had to go to Whole Foods for cashew butter. Still haven't found clarified butter (ghee) anywhere. I only found flaxseed meal at Trader Joe's. So it's kind of a crap shoot as to where you'll find what you need (and then what you'll pay for it). So there's more planning involved. You can't just run to Wal-mart to get your shiznit.

Don't forget lunch
Daddy and I both work outside of the house and are at work for lunch time. It can be hard to put together something for lunch. Again, it takes pre-planning (damn that pre-planning). Leftovers from the night before are an obvious one, but eating Paleo typically makes one not feel full for as long as other foods do, so we end up eating the leftovers later most nights. A lot of times I just cruise the fridge and throw a bunch of stuff in a cold bag and go. But you have to make sure when you're shopping that there's portable things that don't require large amounts of cooking at work. Tricky tricky. In a pinch there's always a salad at a fast food place, but I've even had experiences where I open a salad and I'm thinking, "There's stupid tortilla chips on my salad!" Try picking those out during a lunch meeting. Super professional (with the cape on and all).

I'm sure there's more and I'll post them when I think of (or experience) them. What have your experiences been?

C25K Week 5 Day 1 - A little late, but that's OK

I actually ran day 1 of week 5 on Tuesday. Monday was just a train wreck around these parts. I taught my two classes, had office hours, helped some students plan our their academic lives, and then ran to pick up Sage from school so we could go to a doctor's appointment. The appointment was supposed to be quick, in and out. We got there at 2:15 and left at 3:15. Not quick in my book. Home by 3:45, and Sage was asleep by 3:48. Daddy got home and I went to pick up Silas at school at 4:20. So there was really very little daylight left to actually get outside and run on Monday.

Tuesday I left work at 2:45 and was able to get my run in before we had to leave to pick up the boys. Mind you, Daddy went by himself so I could cool down and shower, but I was technically done (and smelly and covered in sweat and sunscreen) by 4:20. Today's run was 3 sets of 5 minutes of running (spaced by 3 minutes of walking). The first two runs I was OK, but by the third I really just wanted to be done. Everything was tired. I think that's part of my overall feeling of tired too though. But I finished. I ran for 15 minutes today. Whew.

This week the program actually changes every day. The next time I run (probably Thursday) there will be sets involving 8 minutes of running. Eep. And Thursday and Saturday I will run on a treadmill for the first time since I'll be at a conference and staying at a hotel in Florida. I hope there's not too many buttons. I can just imagine myself programming the thing to do hills the entire time or something.

Oh Personality - #12WeekBlog Post Week 2

Welcome to the second week of the #12weekblog posts. If you’re wondering what that is, it’s a group of bloggers who are all writing about the same topic every week. The prompts are sent out on Mondays and you have all week to write. Want to join in? Comment on the original post and I’ll get you set up to start!

The prompt for this week:

What personality trait(s) do you value most in yourself? Which do you wish you could change?

The trait I most value in myself AND the one I wish I could change sometimes is that I am orderly. Extremely orderly. I do things in order (my order, the order that makes sense). I follow recipes. I spell and write accurately. I learn the rules of things and follow them (unless I think I can modify to make them more effective). I want to learn the best way to do a new thing and follow the instructions.

            This can be good in that I know where everything is when I need it. I know that my classes are ready to be taught tomorrow because before I leave I set everything out for tomorrow’s classes. I know that the boys’ bags are ready for school tomorrow because I swap out what needs to stay home and refill them with new stuff when we get home (not in the mornings when it’s chaotic). I know when my bills need to be paid and how much money we’ll have at the end of the month because I keep track of that all on my computer.

            Why would being orderly be a bad thing? Well, Daddy is anything but orderly. I joke (not really joking) with him that he leaves a trail of Michael around the house when he comes home and I can tell him exactly what he did and in what order just by following the trail. Because I am orderly and he is not, I feel the need to pick up his disorder (as well as that of two small children). He doesn’t appreciate this because, well, he doesn’t think it needs to be done and doesn’t understand why I feel the need to do it, so why should he thank me for doing something that didn’t need to be done in the first place?

            So there you have it. I’m orderly and organized and I appreciate that in my self because it allows me to do my work without feeling rushed or anxious – I know that I already did what needs to be done. If I weren’t this way though, I wouldn’t feel the frustration at home that I do because apparently I’m the only one that feels the need to be orderly.

How did other #12weekblog Challenge participants answer this prompt? Check out Lisa’s and John’s work below when they send me their links. Want to participate? Let me know!

John writes about congruence and being "good weird" this week.

Life With Two - Little Boys Updates

I've had a lot of friends and readers ask, "What's life like with two kids as opposed to just one?" Mike jokes that we're "real parents" now because we have two, but I don't think that's really the case. The challenges and enjoyable moments with two kids are different from one, for sure, but it's all parenting.

Having two kids feels like triage - you look around and see who needs attention more right now and you help them now. Is anyone bleeding or damaged? If so, they're first. After that it's kind of "the one who makes the most noise wins." Because face it - with two kids (almost three and 7 months) there's a lot of noise to be made. I don't know about you, but for me constant noise ups my anxiety level exponentially. So if you continue to make noise (and it's not a happy playing noise) you'll get help from me super quick. Daddy for some reason can block it out.

Getting so big

There's always something going on. I think they've both napped at the same time once. As they both get older there's different challenges. For example, Sage is trying to crawl and has his first tooth poking out. There's lots of frustrated crawling crying and pain crying. But when he's not crying he's a smiley and sweet little boy. He's almost there with the crawling...almost there. I think he still needs to work on his upper arm strength. We played on our hands and knees last night for about 10 minutes and by the end he was wobbly. And that tooth, man. It's poking out to the point where you can feel a point but it's just a little above flush with his gums.

I think as a younger brother he's learned quickly that a big smile will get you attention. If he's playing in his Exersaucer and you pass by he'll give you a big smile and see if he can attract your attention to pick him up. He especially loves Silas. Si gets the biggest smiles and the most "cat calls" from Sage. Sage REALLY wants to be his friend. The sad part is Silas ignores him. But when Si does smile back at Sage, Sage's smile gets that much bigger.

Don't let the smile fool you...

Silas, being almost three, is all about helping me ("I help you Mommy!") by bringing laundry to the washer (one sock and one blanket), picking up his toys, stirring brother's formula, and trying to pour his own milk (which freaks me out). As someone who usually tries to control everything, it's hard to give up some control to him, but I'm making myself do it because he needs to learn how to put on his own socks and wash his own hands. It's hard to predict now what he can and can't do by himself. I generally just ask, "Hey can you do X?" and observe from a distance. If he's having trouble I'll offer some help. Otherwise I just marvel at what he can do. He can identify all of his colors (except pink for some reason), most of his shapes, can sing songs he's heard often (we heard pieces of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Rain Rain Go Away" the other day on the way home from school, and I heard him singing bits of "When she loved me" from Toystory 2 today), and he can say his numbers 1-10 (and sometimes higher). He will repeat almost everything you say (sometimes creepily similarly to how you said it) and remember most of what you've said. The other day Daddy hid Si's favorite blanket (Blue) and told Si he needed to say "The Magic Word" to get it back. He said, "Abre." Daddy just looked at me, confused. I tried to not spit out my water. "Just give it to him," I said. "What did he say?" Daddy asked. "Open in Spanish." Toddler parents will probably recognize that my son's a Dora fan.

While I may feel overwhelmed some days (and feel relieved when the kids go back to school on Monday) I would not miss everything they're doing for anything. There's nothing better than when someone comes up to you on the couch with Blue and says, "I sit you Mommy" and cuddles up to you. Sure buddy. Cuddle all you want.

"You're right Prospector, I can't stop Andy from growing up. But I wouldn't miss it for the world."

My Current Obsession - Arm Warmers

Most months in Texas I'm damn hot but December through March/April-ish I'm always cold (while Daddy's just fine). One thing I've found that helps me is arm warmers. Wearing them I can still wear short sleeves or I can layer them under long sleeve shirts.

If you do an Etsy search for armwarmers you'll come up with a ton. Some super cute and reasonably priced, some, like, whoa. I have been enjoying my Sustainablebabyish Armwoolies (sold out of course) and I've been looking for longer options. Enter Bumby Arms. I love Bumby stuff for the boys (interlock wool pants and shorts for over cloth diapers) so I've been contemplating pre-ordering a pair with the Gnome's Naturals buy. Now to choose a color...suggestions??

C25K Week 4 Day 3 - Success!

After my knee problems with W4D2, I was excited but concerned about today's run. I'd been stretching and working on my knee muscles, so I felt better about that. I reviewed the KT Tape placement for the knee and wrapped up both of my knees. Seemed pretty easy.

As I was starting to run, I felt the tape on my left knee start to give, so I stopped and fixed it. By the time I was done, both of the outside knee strips were secured to the inside of my sweat pants. Perhaps this is not designed for running under pants? Perhaps I didn't put enough pressure on it as I put it on? Who knows.

But with the KT Tape that stayed I did feel some support and was able to finish the whole workout. Next week is three sets of 5 minutes of running with 2.5 minutes of walking between them. I think I can do that.

Dissertation - Making Progress

I've decided that I'm done sitting back and being lazy on this thing. I submitted my IRB application and I got feedback Friday. I posted everything they wanted within 30 minutes except for the damned site approval letter that I've requested twice. All I need is a letter on college letterhead stating I can gather my data at my college and use the college's email system to request participation in a survey. That's it! So frustrating. I'll write the dang thing if someone will sign it! LoL

I already wrote the introduction to the next Chapter (chapter 4, results and analysis) and I can't do much else until I get my data gathered. C'mon site letter!!! I have a feeling I'll be visiting someone's office in person this week...

C25K Week 4 Day 2 - And then it happened...

I have been waiting for this day for the past three weeks and change. It is the day that finally, something in my body (ahem, my damned knees) decided it was not going to play nice anymore. And I did NOT complete my goal for the day. I will be the first to admit it. I did my three minutes of running, 2.5 minutes of walking, 5 minutes of running, 2.5 minutes of walking, and then during that 2nd 3-minute run I literally couldn't get myself to pick up the pace and kept slowing down...down...down...until the pain was to the point where I stopped running and started walking. I walked through the rest of that run, walked through the walk, and started the 2nd five-minute run. I got about 1.5 minutes into it before the pain picked back up again. I walked the rest of my workout and sighed heavily.

When I got home I stretched some and sat down to ice both of my knees. I have to say that being severely over-tired thanks to a certain someone not sleeping through the night may have contributed to my body being overall overtired. And Wednesdays are my busy day (5:20 wake up, teach two classes, office hours, go home and run, shower, pick up boys, dinner, relax, baths, bed, wine...oh wait...). And on Monday I ran on hills and that definitely didn't help.

So what's the plan, Stan? Keep icing my knees. Stretch more. Strength building exercises more. KT Tape the heck out of my knees. And of course, hit it again on Friday. Perhaps repeat Week 4 next week if I think I need to. But definitely not quit.

House Hunting - Progress?

A bit ago I emailed (and called) our realtor asking if the house we rent is for sale and for what price. I didn't get an answer for almost two weeks. I finally got an email giving us an update.

The realtor's office has to do a market analysis to see what the homes in our area (similar size and condition) have been selling for and then talk to the owners about a price. Hopefully they'll get back with us this week. Fingers crossed it's an amount we can get approved for!

Cloth Diapering Anxiety Provoking Event

If you don't cloth diaper or care about cloth diapers, stop reading and come back tomorrow :)

If you cloth diaper, you may agree with me that one of the most useful tools of CDing is a diaper sprayer. Especially when you have two in diapers, one is teething, and one is trying to PT but won't poop on the potty. Diaper sprayer to me is a must have.

Monday morning I woke up with Sage and changed his butt, and needed to use the sprayer. Previously sometimes the button would stick due to calcification and Daddy would soak it in vinegar and life would be fine. Monday the button lost pressure and nothing I did would change it. Turn it off, turn it back on, futz with the button...nothing. So I left it to Daddy. Thankfully I got the diaper cleaned first.

Daddy took it apart and...his diagnosis was that there was a spring in the button that had broken and he couldn't figure out how to get in to the button to replace the spring. He suggested I buy a new one. Now if you know my husband that's like BIG. He rarely chooses to replace things if he can fix them.

So I'm off to Google diaper sprayers.

Hold me until we get the new one...

#12WeekBlog First Week's Prompt

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Welcome to the first week of the #12weekblog posts. If you’re wondering what that is, it’s a group of bloggers who are all writing about the same topic every week. The prompts are sent out on Monday’s and you have all week to write. Want to join in? Comment on the original post and I’ll get you set up to start!

The prompt for this week:

Why did you start blogging? What have you gained from it since you started? (Or what do you hope to gain from it)?

            I started blogging because I wanted to gain fame and fortune. I wanted people all over the Internet to know my name and herald me as the most amazing writer/blogger out there. I wanted to make tons of money off my sponsored blogs and get huge companies to send me crap to review. I hope you realize I’m chuckling to myself as I type this. Ain’t no way any of that’s happening…nor did I ever expect it to.

            I started blogging because I love writing, first and foremost. And I had gotten very academic about my writing – it was as if I was writing for work or for publication most of the time and that bored me. I have started at least 10 journals. I find them in random spots of the house, two pages written on and then neglected. I saw some blogs from friends and from companies I liked and thought, “Hey, I can type faster than I can talk so maybe online journaling or blogging may be better.” So I started blogging.

            Initially I was just going to write about parenting and environmentalism in the home because I figured I may have something to offer that “community” (of environmentalist parents). But then I started adding in other topics such as hobbies (like cooking and running) and realized those were about parenting too – you have to (HAVE TO) have something else going on in your life if you’re a parent or you will go insane (or more insane than you already are). Or you’ll be that creepy parent who has nothing to talk about but their kids, and everyone avoids them because they don’t want to hear another word about your damned kids.

            What have I gained from blogging since I started? Two things: an outlet for my writing and a new perspective on blogging. If you read through my stuff you’ll see that it’s completely random topic-wise, especially within the past month. And if you’re wondering why the plethora of posts in the past month, I attribute that to the second thing I’ve gained: perspective on blogging. For a year I would come up with these ideas to write on and I’d think, “Nobody cares about that. Nobody wants to read that.” And I’d scrap the idea and wouldn’t post for-ev-er and nobody seemed to care and it was all good (except I didn’t have a writing outlet). Then I realized something. This is my blog. It’s my space. Readers can choose to read or not to. I have no control over that. If people thought I was posting too often or writing about things they didn’t care about, they could unfollow me or stop getting emails about new posts. Meh. But for the people who stayed (and most did), I can tell you I value your input and your support. I really do. Part of the enjoyment I get from blogging is meeting new people who are interested in what I’m interested in.

How did other #12weekblog Challenge participants answer this prompt? Check out Lisa’s and John’s work below when they send me their links. Want to participate? Let me know!

John's post - Why I write from his blog Like It Matters
Lisa's post - On writing, or blogging as it were... from her blog Mama is a She-Wolf

C25K Week 4 Day 1

Wait, did I just type Week 4?! I did! Wow. It's been three weeks plus since I started running. That's kind of awesome.

This morning Sage (7 months) woke me up at 6:15 a.m. so I thought, "Screw it, let's get up." By 10:45 I had dropped the boys off, grocery shopped, and put up the groceries (including packaging the chicken for freezing and cutting up two bunches of celery for snacking). I wanted to run before lunch time, so I stretched and got myself ready (while Daddy was still in bed mind you). I stretched more than I have on previous days because I knew what was in store - two sets of five minutes of running and two sets of three minutes of running. Only three minutes of walking in the whole workout. Eep.

The three-minutes sets were easier today than previously, so I think my legs are getting used to them. The five-minute sets, well...I did them and I didn't stop running during them. I may have slowed down considerably at some points, but I was still moving faster than walking so I call that a win. It should get easier this week.

I started off my workout with such an awesome feeling. I was clear, it was nice out, and I was really enjoying it. The app I use for C25K when I open it has suggestions (and a motivational quote) and the suggestion today was to run a different route so you don't get bored. Well, OK. My neighborhood is an ant's nest of streets so I could surely find another route. Note to self - when you choose another route, make sure you know what it looks like, hills-wise. Because when you don't it may not work out well. Yeah, the street I chose, I drive it all the time...but I've never walked or run it. I turned down it and looked at how it changed to uphill and almost turned around. But I didn't. Now the second street I chose had a way easier uphill, less steep, and it was easier to maintain my motivation looking at that one.

For you seasoned runners, give me some suggestions for hills. Because I don't think crying about them is going to get me anywhere quickly.

Be Mine

Valentine's Day is coming up. At our house we celebrate Val-Hanukkah, something I dreamed up when Daddy and I were dating. Seven days of gifts, and most of them are small. The last one can be bigger if you want. One year I gave Daddy a heart-shaped Pez dispenser one day and made cookies for him at work another day. It's not so much about the gifts, but celebrating your connection (more so than you do on a normal day. It can be a reminder to get out of your own head and think about what would make the other person happy (or at least smile).

A Valentine from Silas

Since it is 7 days though it takes more pre-planning than one trip to the grocery store to buy chocolate covered strawberries. It gives you the opportunity to think, "What does my partner really want/need/enjoy?" If you choose to do something like this it's good to brainstorm for a bit, make a list, and figure out some really fun ones. That's where I'm at this year right now, the brainstorming phase.

How do you show your partner you love and appreciate them on Valentine's Day? While we should be honoring our loved ones (and them us) every day, it's nice to do something different (and fun) once in a while. What are your Valentine traditions?

Meal Planning - I hate you but I need you

Every week I sit down at the computer to come up with the list of things we'll have for dinner for the week because I hate the daily question, "What's for dinner?" It became such a nasty joke at my house that we'd try to see who could ask it first, and the person who had to answer had to come up with something. Not fun.

So I started meal planning. Saturday or Sunday I'll sit down at my computer and go through recipes looking for what looks good for the week. I'll write down a list of the days (this week it was Sunday through Sunday). Then on the bottom of the paper on the left I'll write the meats I need to buy, and on the right I'll write down the vegetables. I'll make a separate list of spices on another page and check to make sure we already have those (and add those to the list under the meats if we don't). Then I shop. Once I finish shopping I post the list on the fridge so there's no question as to "What's for dinner?"

So what's for dinner this week?

Sunday: Ultimate Paleo Chili - Daddy asked for chili and told his best friend there would be chili Sunday. So there will be chili. Plus it will be good for leftovers for lunch for the week.
Monday: Chicken Burgers - these look so yummy.
Tuesday: Zesty Ranch pork chops with brussel sprouts - we already have some pork chops in the freezer, so this will work out well. And I'm starting a love affair with brussel sprouts. Shh, don't tell Daddy.
Wednesday: Chicken sausage with bacon - easy meal because Wednesday's kind of our crazy day.
Thursday: Caveman strong pizza crust - Thursdays are pizza day, always has been. When we started eating Paleo we started trying a new crust each week (until we find one that we love forever and ever). Still searching.
Friday: Stuffed green peppers - no recipe, but I'll replace the rice with cauliflower rice and we'll use ground beef and tomatoes.
Saturday: Easy chicken dinner - Saturday and dinner always gets lazy around here, so this will be easy.
Sunday: Bacon chicken bowl - again, easy because dinners on the weekends are kind of an afterthought after everyone gets up from their naps and we're like, "Oh crap, it's five already."

Most of the recipes came from PaleOMG this week. If you haven't checked out her website, DO IT. Awesomeness. And she has a cookbook coming out. Score!

Link me to your favorite meal. I'll add it to the rotation for next week.

Toddler at a Museum

Sounds like a bad movie right? Snakes on a plane, Toddler in a Museum, ahhhh!

Daddy is an artist and a teacher. Because of those things, I expect that out kids will be involved in art somehow (even if it's just to attend an opening or a show to "show your tribe") so I thought it would be good to get them started on attending different things now.

The McNay offered a program a few Sundays ago where there was a talk about cultural artwork and an activity. We showed up late (unintentionally) so we missed the talk but got to peruse the museum and attend the activity (which involved taking old small toys and building a sculpture out of them, hot gluing the sculpture, and taking home a souvenir).

Now this would have been all fine and good except for two things. It started at 1. Nap time starts at 1. Sage slept through most of it, but Silas stayed awake like the trooper he is. Then when we got to the sculpture building part he wanted to go through all the toys (holding up the line) and he just wanted to play with them (not build a sculpture). Whenever Mike tried to help him build, Silas would take the toys back and play with them. Finally we took a tired toddler out to the car and left his toys for another kid to build with (I felt badly taking toys and not building).

Moral of the story: Si's not ready for this sort of stuff yet and I should have known that and not pushed it. He enjoyed sitting in the stroller and checking out the paintings for a bit, so maybe we'll just stick with that for now. We'll stroll, talk about museum etiquette (you can't touch, stay behind this line, etc.), and look at some cool stuff. Maybe in a few years we can go to the activity portions.

C25K W3D3 - Still Pounding Pavement

I know it's sad to say this, but I'm still here. I'm still running and keeping up with the C25K program. Did I not expect to be able to complete week 3? You bet ya. As I've said previously, exercise anything and me go way back but we see each other rarely. We'll hang out for a bit, I'll find better things to do, and won't come back. Walking, yoga, weight training...I've tried it all and mayyyyybe kept at it for two weeks. Except walking. When I was single and had nothing better to do I walked every day. But it wasn't really strenuous; it was more like meditating while moving.

But anyway. I'm still running. And I'm super proud of that fact. If you're doing the C25K this year and you're still with it you should be too. We're rocking this. If you've fallen behind or stopped, that doesn't mean that you can't start again. You didn't fail. You paused. Big difference. Get back on it.

So today's run wasn't bad. Everything felt tight which means, a) it's getting worked, and b) I need to stretch more. Good and will do. It's starting to get warmer in Texas - I should rephrase - it was warmer today.  In Texas you can wait 30 minutes and the weather might change. It was 42 this morning. The boys wore hats to school. I ran at 11:45 and had to put my hat away after 5 minutes of walking because I was too hot. I think it made it to 72 today. So yeah - running in warmer weather is going to be interesting. I'm not sure I'm ready to not be wearing sweat pants, an exercise tank, a fleece sweatshirt, and my fleece jacket yet. But I'll adapt. I mean, last week I was worried about running 3 minutes straight and I did it all three days this week without a horrible incident. So I guess I can run without all the layers and not feel weird. Some day soon.

Next week's program doubles up this week's again. Run 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, run 5 minutes, walk 2.5 minutes, run 3 minutes, walk 90, run 5 minutes. I should say "then die," but it doesn't so I'm going to assume that just like this week I'm going to be OK. As this week's run ended and viewed next week's schedule I thought, "I'm not sure my knees are ready for that." Perhaps this weekend I will try out the KT Tape Erin suggested - I'll practice so that Monday I don't wrap myself head to toe and need medical assistance.

Rent or Buy

Since 2011 we've rented a house after our first house in San Antonio was foreclosed on and sold at auction April 4, 2011. I've gone back and forth about renting vs. buying again and it seems that this year that debate may come to a head.

A house down the street from our house is for sale, and Daddy took note of it. I Googled the address and found the house was a foreclosure and was listed for $50K. Daddy asked if we could look at it and I wondered why - we hadn't decided what we were going to do when our lease was up in March 2013. We started to Google other houses that were for sale and we've looked at more than 50 at this point. Finally I asked, "What if we just try to buy the house we're renting right now?" We know its issues, we know what needs work, whereas if we bought another house we may have less of an idea as to what may need work.

So we contacted our relator. We called on Friday and emailed Monday and still no response. In my email I asked what the owners wanted for this home, and I'm hoping that the realtors are looking into the asking price rather than simply ignoring our requests. I'll keep you guys updated!

C25K Week 3 Day 2 - What a Day

You know when you have those days where it feels like you did everything and then some and you STILL made yourself find time to run?

Yeah, that day was today.

Got up, showered, met a friend at the local cloth diaper store, shopped a little (shh), and then went to work. Left work, went home, ran, showered, picked up the boys, brought them home, met Daddy, and then left to go to a three-hour work meeting. By the time I got home it was 8:45 and Silas was ready to brush teeth and Sage was already asleep in his bouncer. Sigh. It was cute, I told Silas when I put him to bed that I missed him tonight and he told me, "I miss you Momma." Aww.

What today proved to me though is that even in the midst of chaos, I can still find time to reach my goal of finishing C25K. It may not be the most fun day, but it CAN (and will) be done. I do have to say that having a time limit on my run (must have time to shower before I go pick up the boys and thus I only have X number of minutes to do this) made it less enjoyable. It was more about getting it done than enjoying the experience. And I didn't get to stretch as much as I wanted to before starting, so everything felt a little tight. I did make sure to stretch and roll my calves when I got home though. The whole run took me shorter than I expected so I had more time than I thought I would.

Not ideal, but I got it done. And I ran for three minutes straight twice again today. Pretty sweet. I have not looked ahead to next week's schedule yet. I'm kind of dreading it...I'll do it. But I'm dreading it LoL

Pardon Me, Do You Blog?

Are you a blogger in need of ideas? Or do you want to start a blog but don't know what to write about? Have I got a deal for you...well it's not really a deal, it's a challenge. And a fun one at that.

After talking to my friend Lisa tonight who is starting her very on blog space, I was thinking about how it can be difficult to come up with topics to write about sometimes. Some days an idea comes to you easily, and some days so many ideas come to you that you have to write them down so you don't forget (I love the Notes app on my iPhone for that). But some days...you drum your fingers on the desk, stare at the computer screen, and feel..."Duhhhh."

It happens.

So here's where the fun comes in. For the next twelve weeks I will create and send out prompts for bloggers who sign up. Do you have to write about what I send you? Of course not (and you won't get kicked out of the club if you don't). But if you do use the prompt, be sure to send me the link to your blog and I'll post it along with others so that folks can read your "take" on the week's prompt.

Want to sign up but not sure if you can commit to one post a week? Not a problem. Sign up anyway and see what happens. Signing up may just be the motivation to get you writing every week though (ah the guilt...Ha!).

How do you sign up? Easy. Comment on this post with your name, your blog's name, the link to your blog, and your email address. Emails with prompts will go out some time on Mondays (starting 1/21) and you'll have all week to write your post and send me the link via email. Once I get your email, I'll post a link to your post in a weekly post. Can you add in after it starts? Of course! Can you ask to be removed from the email list? Again, of course!

If you use Twitter for your blog, use the hashtag #12weekblog to help others identify a blog participating in the challenge.

Quick! Sign up! It will be fun :)

Post-Christmas Ponderings

Ever since I became a parent Christmas has become anxiety-provoking. I know it shouldn't be because it's not about the gifts, I know that in my head really I do. But when I thought about the presents I had for Silas (almost three) this past year, I thought (pre-Christmas), "Well that's not enough."

I remember these huge Christmases at my Gram's. The tree was at one end of the room and the presents came out to the middle of the living room (and that didn't include stocking presents which were in brown paper grocery bags there were so many). Mind you, that was for 9 people. But it's as if I had that image stuck in my head as I was thinking about our Christmas this past year. And I felt badly that I couldn't give Silas that sort of Christmas.

Fast forward to mid-January. Silas had the bulk of the presents under our tree (my parents spoiled him) and after all the anxiety of finding "the best" gifts, he plays the most with two: a set of inflatable dinos (Amazon, $17.99) and a set of cardboard blocks from my parents. The rest of his stuff is either in his toy box ("resting") or broken at this point.

Note to self for next Christmas: don't worry about the gifts. Find him one or two things that he'll enjoy currently and save the rest of the time, energy, and money on something else. Honestly I think he enjoys playing with me and Daddy with the dinos more than anything else. Oh, and deflating them so he and I can use the pump to inflate them again.

C25K Week 3 Day 1 - I Made It!

Today is Monday, so that means that my running schedule changed according to the C25K app I have. This week is run 90 seconds, walk 90, run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes, and repeat. Last Friday I was kind of freaking out about the run 3 minutes part. When I started my run today I wasn't exactly excited to try running for three minutes, but I knew that I was going to do it no matter how I felt about it. After I was done I'd see how I did and see if maybe I should repeat last week's run (run 90, walk 90, repeat) instead.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with myself. The first part (run 90/walk 90) wasn't as bad as it was last week. I think maybe because I knew run 3 minutes was coming up that I expected it to be longer and was surprised when my 90 seconds ended. Then came the three minutes. And I did it! I pushed myself to keep running, even if it was at a slower pace, just to complete it, and I did. No cheating (walking when I'm supposed to run) at all. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, but as I've done before I forced myself to not check the clock to see how much time I had left and just run.

As I finished today's sets I felt accomplished and pretty proud of myself. I know for some people that running for three minutes (twice) is a small feat, but to me it's pretty big. I mean, I'm a person who has walked miles for exercise but never was able to jog for any extended period of time. Three minutes is a lot, and I'm looking forward to doing it again on Wednesday - soon running for 3 minutes will be as easy as running for 60 seconds in the first week (I hope)!

Thank you everyone for all the encouragement last week - it really helped :)

Orgreenic Kitchenware

I didn't buy it.

And Mike didn't buy it because it was "As Seen On TV." He bought it for two reasons: 1) we needed a new pan, and 2) he's always wanted ceramic cookware. It must be the ceramicist in him or something. Regardless, yes, we have and use Orgreenic Kitchenware. Go ahead, laugh. When you're done, I'll tell you why it rocks.

Once you've got it "seasoned" with oil/grease this thing has very little upkeep. Sometimes I use some sort of oil in it, sometimes I don't, and nothing burns. Nothing sticks. We've made eggs and left it uncleaned overnight. It took 1 minute to clean. Same with pancakes.

If we could afford it I would totally "upgrade to the full organic cookware set." But this stuff's expensive (and with reason). 'Tis good. And no, I didn't get paid for this post, I didn't get free stuff to comment on...I just saw a commercial and thought, "I bet you someone somewhere is hating on this because it's As Seen on TV...I need to share..."

You've been informed.

C25K W2D3 I was fine until...

I finished my run today and thought, "Meh. That was ok. I wonder if I should repeat week 2 since my knees and calves aren't feeling ready for more." Then I did my Friday "ritual" (of two weeks mind you) of checking next week's run schedule to get my brain thinking about the change.

Oh. My. God.

Seriously? Run 90, walk 90, run for 3 MINUTES, walk for three minutes, and then repeat that?!?! 3 minutes?!?! I already want to decide to repeat week 2 just because that freaks me out. That's double the time I ran this week and my knees and calves already slowed down at about 80 seconds this week.

So here's my plan. I will do W3D1 Monday. If it doesn't work out well, I'll go back to W2D2 and D3 for next week and see if that helps. Hopefully that will be enough to get me to feel better about a full week three after that. But if Monday goes well then I'll do W3D2 and D3.

In the Kitchen Together

For the past five years, dinner at The House has been I buy it, Mike prepares it, we eat. Most of the time it was frozen or something easy. I buy chicken, he adds stuff to it (such as spices and whatnot), and we eat. When we opted to do the Paleo diet I looked for recipes, cleared them with him, and bought the stuff, but when it came time to cook I realized there was a lot more to it than just, you know, take it out of the freezer, take it out of the box, and put it in the stove (bad me and frozen pizza). So rather than cook alone (I had the recipes on my phone so I was now "The Cooker"), I called Mike in, showed him what we were making, and set him to cutting or doing something.


Our kitchen isn't that big. So we're sometimes in each other's ways. And we cook differently. I follow recipes. He cooks to taste (which he imagines in his head, which I can't do). He's creative about cooking - he can throw something together from available stuff. If I don't have a recipe I make something I've always made (not just a throw together meal). So imagine these two people in the kitchen together, trying to reach one goal (a meal). Yeah. It's been...a challenge. There we go.

Bacon, spinach, and
mushroom casserole

But we have found some things that we both liked, and I want to share those with you. All of these came from Quick Paleo Meals at Paleo Diet Lifestyle. First up, bacon, spinach, and mushroom casserole. First off, my brain says this isn't a casserole because it doesn't fit my brain's criteria for a casserole. But whatever you call it, it has a good taste. I personally would prefer the bacon crispy (as I always do), but it had a good taste and we liked it. Mike took the leftovers and made an omelet with them. The recipe calls for a casserole dish that you cook everything in on the stove but we just used a regular saute pan. One nice thing about this is it's a one pan deal - no other pans or lots of cleanup required.


Moving on. Liver and onions. You can tell me as long as you want that liver's good for you. And that's great. And Mike likes it. The idea of it, the taste of it, and everything about it just don't sit right with me. But at the beginning of this Paleo journey I said I'd try everything once (but not brains, Sarah). I tried it. I don't like it. I'm done. Will I have it again? *Rolls eyes and sighs* If Mike asks for it, sure. It's easy. It's pretty inexpensive. I don't know about your grocery store, but my grocery store had 1 container of liver (that I bought for $2.50). Moving away. From liver.

Paleo pork chops
with apples and onions

Pork chops with apples and onions. Yeah. This is good. I've talked to a lot of people about different Paleo pork chop recipes and I was pretty happy with this one. The apples and onions give it a good flavor and again, it's pretty easy and quick. The cutting up of the apples and onions took the longest time honestly. I may start cutting up gads of stuff at a time so that cooking will be easier. I should have eaten two of these but Mike had two, I gave one to Silas (who refused to eat it), and we only had 4. I did eat his leftovers the next morning for breakfast...

Canned salmon salad

Cold salmon salad you say? Sure. For lunch one day we made canned salmon salad. We halved the recipe because it was just the two of us eating lunch, and we still had leftovers. We used lettuce wraps to make little "sandwiches" rather than just put it on a bed of lettuce as a salad. Quick and easy (aside from the cutting, again). I will definitely make this again and may even make some up to bring to work. Mike says he thinks it would be tasty with celery rather than cucumbers as well.

Paleo Chicken Fajitas

Last up was Paleo Chicken Fajitas. We had these for dinner one night when a family friend was over. He enjoyed them as well (in a tortilla, no lettuce wraps for him). Definitely tasty and "one skillet easy." We'll definitely keep this around because it's quick and something good to serve if folks who don't follow the Paleo diet have dinner with us.


So what would we like to try? I'm really interested in some sort of pizza type thing. But I think the crust would involve a lot of work so I'm kind of waiting for next week when I can have a leisurely time of making it (kids at school, Mike at work). Do you have go-to lunch and dinner ideas? Share in the comments!

C25K W2D2 All Systems Tired

It was a rainy day today. Total motivation sapper. But it did stop raining for a bit around 11 am so I decided to kick my ass outside and get my run in. You don't have to be excited to run every day, right? You just have to do it.

As soon as I started warming up every currently moving part of my body cussed at me. As if an "All Systems Failure" light should come on, my hips, knees, calves...you name it...were unhappy all at once. But just like when you're driving, I kept walking and they simmered down.

I noticed that my calves felt tight around the same place in my run that they did Monday. I stepped off a curb and there they were. Note to self - don't be running and step down a curb. Maybe that will make for a happier Friday run. Who knows.

Pink!

I did get some KT Tape today as suggested by my awesome running mentor Erin. Now to figure out how to use it correctly to support my knees! If you've never seen their instructional videos, check them out. I imagine myself covered in tape head to toe and not able to move LoL

If you're doing the C25K too, keep at it! We're doing a great job :)

Paleo Breakfasting

I've spent the last week trying different Paleo breakfast ideas, trying to find things that are tasty and portable for when I start back to work on the 14th. I know myself - if I can't find breakfast I'll just say forget it and stop at McDonald's or something.

Chocobanana smoothie,
 yum!

So what have we tried so far (besides the raspberry muffins)? Mike made me a chocolate and banana smoothie which was pretty tasty. I think I could easily get the ingredients ready the night before then blend them in the morning.

Next up - hard-boiled eggs. I've been anti-hard-boiled eggs for so many years I was loathe to try it but it's super easy. Boil water, put the shelled eggs in, let them cook 15 minutes or so, and let them cool. We left them in the water overnight and it was super easy to peel them in the morning. I cut them in half and added salt and paprika shakes. Yum. I was surprised and glad I tried them.

Caveman Crunch - this
won't last long in this house...

Finally - Caveman Crunch granola. Very easy to make once you find all the ingredients. I cooked it for 20 minutes then took it out and shuffled it and cooked it another 10. It turned out perfect. I also used agave instead of honey.

These are all great options, tasty and easy. What easy Paleo breakfasts have you found?

C25K Week 2 Day 1 - Someone Did a Mean Thing

I was so excited to run today. I was thinking last night that running again after 2 days off would probably be a little harder, but I forgot to add in the fact that on Mondays there's more running than last week.

Week two of C25K is 90 seconds of running and 2 minutes of walking, alternating. I have to say my legs were thankful for those two minutes today. Last Friday I thought I was ready for a little more running, but by my third alternation today my calves were cussing me out when I ran. They felt like bricks or as if I had weights on my ankles. By that point though the nice lady on my app would say, "Begin walking."

Oh. Thank. God.

Wednesday will be better. It must be!

Health and Drinks

No, not the alcoholic kind. I know what you were thinking...

One thing I've found is that I have a hard time just drinking water. I forget to do it. And when I do want a drink, I poke around the fridge and sigh because the drinks I want either a) have a boatload of sugar, or b) we don't have. Ho hum drinks. But hydration is important, and we know that having a beverage can decrease our interest in scrounging through the fridge (which generally leads to us eating something we shouldn't). So I've been doing some healthy beverage research. What should and shouldn't we be drinking?

Drink me.

Well, we should be drinking water for #1. You know this. I know this. Men should be drinking about 13 cups of water and women should be drinking about 9 (based upon the fact that most men outweigh women). If you need to, set a reminder on your phone to drink a cup of water. That helped me when I was pregnant stay hydrated. My vote: boring yes, but necessary. Try getting some flavored water (but avoid those high sugar products that you can add to your water). Or add lemon, orange, or even cucumber slices to your water to give it some flavor.

Coffee and tea are calorie-free (unless you add sugar of course). You can drink them. But if they contain caffeine they could have adverse side effects, could actually dehydrate you, and can stain your teeth (among other issues). If you must, do green tea. There are a lot of health benefits there. My vote: moderation.

Fruit juices, especially 100% (so not the "cocktail" mixes) can have health benefits - for example, orange juice has a lot of vitamins (depending on the type you get - I personally hate pulp), and cranberry juice can help with digestive health and avoiding regular UTIs (but not for everyone some research finds). Here's the thing - juice = sugars. Some sugar is fine, but it's not something you (or your kids) want to be sucking down all day. One 4oz glass per day is good. My vote: moderation (and why not eat the fruit instead?).

Vegetable juices offer flavor, fiber, less sugar, and fewer calories than fruit juices. You're Mom was right, you should have had a V-8. My vote: not my fave, taste wise, but better than some others.

Milk is good for bones, right? Well sure. But it's also high in calories. For those of us who aren't growing many more bones, too much milk can be unhealthy. My vote: moderation.

Alcohol is high in calories (and those beers that say they're not don't taste so hot either). And it's dehydrating. And it decreases the functioning of your frontal lobe. Small amounts of it can help with blood thinning, but don't start drinking just for the health benefits. My vote: way moderation.

Soda, while I have loved it for a very long time, has a crap ton of sugar and caffeine (well most do). Definitely not for the health conscious. My vote: avoid.

Sports drinks (like Gatorade) offer hydration plus sugars. If you need them (and will use the sugars while doing something productive), then by all means drink these in moderation. But if you're sitting on the couch drinking Gatorade and don't plan to exercise the sugar calories off, then you should just drink water. My vote: moderation (as long as you're moving).


Still not excited about fluids myself. But water, vegetable juices, some fruit juice, and some tea will have to do. What is your favorite healthy beverage?

Back to School, Back to School...

I'm currently finishing my Ph.D. in General Psychology at Capella University. Capella's on the quarter system rather than the semester system, so we start back tomorrow. Since the college I teach at doesn't go back until January 14th (well faculty report the 14th, classes start the 22nd) I'm excited to have a week of being able to just work on course work this time around.

So what are my goals for this quarter? First, I have to re-do my ethics training which is an on-line module we have to go through to document our learning about research ethics. It expires after a year, and mine expires in March so I want to get it done before it expires. Once I complete that, I'll submit my Institutional Review Board (IRB) application for the site where I want to gather my data. IRBs review how you propose to gather your data and your treatment of participants for ethical issues. We also need to have IRB approval from Capella, and my IRB application is being reviewed by my research Mentor. Once he reviews it and OKs it, I'll submit it to the Capella IRB and wait for their feedback.

Once I have IRB approval from both places, I'll be able to start gathering my data. My ultimate goal for the quarter, pending IRB approval, is to get my data gathered this quarter. Wish me luck and IRB speed!

To Sleep Perchance to Dream

Mmm toddler. Mmmm screwed up night time routine since we've been on vacation from school.

I. Will. Not. Sleep.

Shoot me.

For many months Silas (30 months) would be great - bath, milk on the couch, teeth brushing, bed at 8:15, bam. We wouldn't hear from him again until 7 am. Now on vacation it's been delayed a bit and he's still awake at 9:30, 10...Tonight I was making breakfast muffins at 10 and while I was doing the dishes he appeared in the kitchen with Blue (his blanket). "Me help you?" He asked with a small smile. You can help me tomorrow but tonight get your tushy back in bed.

I will be very happy once vacation is over and we'll be back to his regular schedule. It doesn't help that Daddy thinks staying up until 9:30 is ok.

How do you get kids back on schedule after vacation?

C25K week 1 Day 3 - New Shoes!

Today was my final day of week 1 of C25K. My day was slightly busy (drop the boys at school, shower, go to vocal therapy, come home and make lunch, pick boys up at 4:30) so I worried I wouldn't find a good time to complete my run. In the morning it was 41 and raining which was less than ideal.

New chooze!

After vocal therapy Mike and I made lunch (Paleo salmon salad, super yum) and then I thought well crap, aren't I supposed to wait to exercise after food (yes, 3-4 hours for digestion after a 600-calorie or more meal says a runner's forum), so I took a nap and ran after we picked the boys up. One nice benefit was that my new trainers arrived while I was napping. Sweet!

Day three was pretty easy I have to say. Not, like, so easy I'd just do it all day every day, but when my run portion finished I thought, "I could keep going." I didn't, but that makes me think that I'm ready for next week where the amount of time spent walking and running swap (so 60 seconds walking and 90 seconds running). Since I was doing lots of "short runs," I wore my new shoes today and they felt good. I think I need to wear slightly thicker socks though.

On to Week 2!

Raspberry Almond Muffin Recipe Review

As I've written before, I'm a breakfast person. And it needs to be portable. Once we started eating paleo I started looking around for recipes for breakfast-y stuff. The first one I found was posted by the Civilized Caveman Cooking blog. I scoured San Antonio for the ingredients and made us some raspberry almond muffins one night so we could have them for breakfast in the morning. Mike had to try one because he said it had a crack down the side. These are definitely Daddy approved. He's eaten three of them since I made them.

Daddy says, "They'll eat" as
he has another...

Having never had "paleo muffins" or anything that had coconut flour as opposed to "regular" flour, I wasn't sure what to expect. The outcome tasted grain-y-er than what I'm used to in terms of muffins (non-paleo muffins) but they had good flavor and sponge-y-ness. I definitely recommend them! Although I had to cook mine a bit longer than 18 minutes (perhaps user error, maybe stove issues, who knows, but I added an extra 7 minutes and they passed the toothpick test). I will definitely make them again, but I think I may substitute some almond flour for some of the coconut flour. And I'll carry a toothpick - raspberries get stuck in my teeth!

What good breakfast recipes have you found? Share!

Paleo Me

Healthy eating, everyone thinks, "I should try that" right? It's true. Most of us make resolutions (which is where we start having a problem, more on that next) to eat healthier every New Year's Eve. That's nice and all, but what happens usually? You eat better for a few days, have a bad day, eat crappy food, and then say to yourself, "Oops, I failed, I'm all done trying this healthy eating thing." And it's back to fast food and pizza and Ramen Noodles (or is that just me?).

My non-Paleo child says no to steak.

The most effective way to make a long-term change is to integrate the new view of yourself (as a healthy eater) into your identity. If you don't, it's very easy to "slip up" and not get back on the healthy wagon (reminds me of the cheese wagon wheel guy from old cheese commercials). But if you think of yourself as a healthy eater, you're more likely to "fix" it if you have a bad eating day. The same is true for any long-term identity change (exercising, quitting smoking, etc.).

For the past few months I've been watching my friends in a certain Facebook group eat the Paleolithic (or Paleo) diet and seen them post about the benefits. Weight loss, feeling more energy, decreased skin problems...hm. So a month or so ago I did some research and Daddy and I decided that we would eat at least 1 paleo dinner per week. So we've been doing that. But we weren't 100% bought in. If we were, we'd have changed our whole day of eating, not just one dinner per week. Last week I sat down with some websites and looked at a) staples of a paleo kitchen, b) easy/quick meals without "crazy" ingredients that we couldn't find at our local market, and c) breakfast ideas of paleo eating that I could make beforehand so that I could "grab and go" when I start back to work on January 14.

Daddy cooking the steak

One thing I learned - the ideas that we have about what foods are for what meals are pretty funny. Think about it. Eggs are mostly for breakfast, veggies aren't really for breakfast...these are all things that I thought before I started looking around. But what I realized is that, yeah, you can pretty much eat whatever you want (in terms of type of food) for any meal and/or snack. Pair protein with a veggie, and you have a meal pretty much.

One hang up for me was thinking about the things I enjoy and how I couldn't have them. For example, Thursday night at our house is pizza night. If whole grains aren't so hot, then frozen pizza? No bueno. But wait, Mr. Google tells me there's paleo pizza?! For real?! So ok, we can have pizza night. Sweet.

So it's time for The House to think about their food differently. I will say that I will offer Silas (now 32 months or almost 3) what we're eating but also have his "likes" on hand because I've seen him deny a perfectly tasty steak. And Sage, well, he's still on pureed solids (sounds like an oxymoron) which actually makes him a vegetarian (ha!).

My paprika-covered eggs. Mmm.

On Tuesday, the first night of our full-time venture, we made steak and eggs for dinner. Daddy was surprised that "that" could "just" be dinner. The recipe I had read (a recipe? really?) said to put paprika on the eggs so I did and Daddy just about had a heart attack (I grew up meat and potatoes, no spices), but it was good. Yes, I'd do it again. Silas ate the eggs. He denied the steak. Wednesday morning for breakfast I had an apple, some scrambled eggs, some avocado slices, and some tomato slices. I worried that I would feel unfull or that it would get to like 10 a.m. and I'd be starving, but not so much. I'm still searching out muffin-type recipes for when I go back to work, but I could easily breakfast out of the fridge as long as the fridge had fruits and veggies (and some protein) until I go back to work. I've found a few recipes and will share my experiences with those here when I get a chance.

Do you have favorite paleo recipes? I'd love to see them. Link them here or post them to the Facebook group.

C25K W1D2 Strangely...Easy?

I set out in my run/walk cycle today with Dee's comment in mind about how day 2 of any exercise program is more painful/stressful than day 1. I told myself I wouldn't watch the timer on my iPhone that told me how much running I had left to do.

Yesterday I did some stretches and exercises to strengthen the muscles around my knees, and honestly today I didn't have pain. But dang was it cold. It's 45 degrees in Texas - I give major props to the ladies doing the C25K in the North. Eesh. After a few minutes I had tears in my eyes from the cold, but either it warmed up or I got over it.

Today was actually a lot easier than Monday to be honest. I didn't push myself to be fast, I just pushed myself to keep going. And I did it. No cheating. And it seemed to go by super quick. And my knees didn't hurt. Go me! :)

Couch to 5K Week 1 Day 1

A few months ago some friends on a discussion board were talking about doing the Couch to 5K running program. I checked out the link and thought, "Well good luck to ya'll."

I'm not a big fan of exercise. I tend to start doing something then quit when I get bored or too busy. My garage full of bikes and yoga mats should prove that. But for some reason while I was awake in bed at 2 a.m. (I blame the baby), I decided one of my goals for the new year would be to complete the Couch to 5K (C25K) program. I downloaded an app for my iPhone that helps you through the program and tells you when to do what as you're exercising ("Start running now," "Start walking now"). I also enrolled myself in an on-line group through Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans - I think this will be an awesome motivator to keep me going and accountable.

On Monday, December 31 I did Week 1 Day 1 (W1D1) of the 8 week (3 times per week) program. For the first week you walk briskly for 5 minutes then alternate walking (for 90 seconds) and running (for 60 seconds). Week 2 switches those two, and then from there the running increases and the walking decreases. I scrolled through the app and saw that in Week 8 it says "just run 2.5 miles." Oh...well that sounds encouraging... But I'll get there.

As I did W1D1 I paid attention to what was not participating so that I could target those areas on my days off from running. My knees especially were cranky with me, so I went through some of my books (that I have a lot of, out in the garage) and Googled and found some things to try. So I'll run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and do strengthening and stretching on the other days.

I sound rather strange to myself, but I'm excited. I came back from W1D1's run feeling proud for not cheating (by walking when I was supposed to run) and energized. I did some "cool down" stretches and took a shower and wasn't tired when it became nap time as I usually do. That was pretty cool.

Daddy told me that today I would hurt but honestly I don't hurt, I just feel the muscles that I used yesterday that I haven't used in a while. It's more of a "Oh hey, there you are!"

On to W1D2!