Wrong Roads

Yesterday, I received an email from Mormon Messages with a video entitled, "Wrong Roads".  Below is the link, if you haven't seen it.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2714780496001


This video completely sums up what our family has been through over the past several months. After Ben was a casualty to the merger back in March, in July he was offered a good job in Texas. We prayed and felt that we should move back.

Ben moved into a hotel and I finished packing up our home and moving our things into my parents' basement and garage. I arrived down in Texas a couple of weeks later. We looked for homes to buy, rent, even lowered our standards and still couldn't find something suitable for us. Ben's job also wasn't what we thought it would be. We stayed at the hotel for a few months and by the end of September, Ben had been moved to a consulting position for the company.

Down in the dumps with no place to call home, we prayed again and we felt we needed to head back home to Illinois. My in laws were so kind to invite us to stay in their basement temporarily.

The 1st week there, Ben was interviewed by a company in Crystal Lake and while we were on vacation the 2nd week, he was offered the job. When we got back we started looking for homes to rent for a year and then buy. After looking at the budget and being better off to buy, we started looking for a home. We looked at several homes in the area and we found the one that is just right for our family and under budget. We have a signed contract and should be closing in the next 30 days!

I know we had to take the wrong path to be guided to the right one. It was a hard path to follow, but in end, we are so happy to have found a good job for Ben and our forever home :).

We are growing to love the area and are close to our families, which is very important to us.

I'm looking forward to the remodeling projects we have planned for our home down the road and getting settled in before the holidays (Fingers crossed).

Here's a picture of the new home.

Breakfast of Champions

I just love smoothies. You can pack so many nutrients into them and mask the taste of vegetables. The smoothie pictured contains blueberries, peaches, pineapple, spinach, fruit and vegetable boosters, almond milk and a tiny bit of orange juice. The boosters meet the daily intake required of fruits and vegetables. Granted I try to eat more fruit and vegetables throughout the day for snacks. Most of the time I have non-fat greek yogurt on hand and that adds lots of protein to the mix.

This week's workouts have been going well. I have added weight and doing lots more stairs. Every other day I do my runs and today I did 2.6 miles. I can't wait to run some races this fall. There is such a rush as you run with a large group of people.

I feel that over the past few months, I have become in touch with my body and it's needs. I'm an emotional eater, so whenever things start getting crazy in my life, I comfort myself with food. I did that on Monday and boy did I feel terrible. I recognized it and was able to stop the bad behavior. I didn't even beat myself up about it! That's definitely a first.  I'm learning how to cope with my stresses and channel that energy into other parts of my life. I am so thankful for these little benchmarks that I'm experiencing and hope that they continue throughout my life.

 

Back in the saddle

After 1 month and 1 day of travelling around the country by car, I am happy to be back home and back in my gym routine! During my travels, I swam, took the stairs at the hotel. 5 flights up and 5 flights down and walked as much as I could.

This morning I got up at 6am, went to the gym and lifted weights and did stairs. I was scared at the thought of how I would feel. The result, it felt great!!! I was even able to add weight and do more stair reps than when I left. I guess this past month of not doing my normal routine, still helped keep my strength.

So now that you have an update on my fitness, here's the update our lives. As noted in a previous post, we attended Ben's family reunion in Branson. We had so much fun with the family riding the Ducks, seeing Chinese acrobats, swimming and playing LOTS of games. After that, we hopped in the car and headed to Salt Lake City to help Ben's aunt get her house ready to sell. One of my favorite perks was seeing my bf Jenny and my "nephews". She just had her 4th boy a few weeks prior to our arrival. I was lucky to be able to spend an entire day with her and the kiddos. By the end of the week, Ben had an interview for a marketing position in Dallas, TX, so we packed up the car and drove to Dallas via Albuquerque. After the interview, we had to go to the restaurant and observe. Ben took copious notes and did a store audit. After we were finished with lunch, we hopped back in the car and headed to Mesa, AZ. We spent a week there spending time with Ben's grandparents. While we were there, Ben was asked to come back to Dallas for more interviews with the same company. We left AZ early on July 4th and spent the evening watching fireworks in Amarillo. July 5th we got into Dallas early and started looking at areas we could possibly move to if he got this job. On that Monday, he had 3 separate interviews including a lunch interview. I had packed up everything and we were so excited to be heading home finally. Once Ben had changed out of his interview clothes, we got in the car and Ben offerred a prayer for our safety and that if it be God's will, he would get this job. Not 30 seconds later as we were about to leave the parking lot of the hotel, Ben got a call that they wanted 2 more interviews on Tuesday. We drove up to a different hotel we had stayed in earlier and literally booked our hotel from the parking lot. I'm so thankful Ben travelled a ton for his last job, so we could use points to book. Two minutes later we walked into the hotel and got our room. That afternoon we went shopping for a different sports coat and shirt. Tuesday came and the interviews went well. We hopped in the car that afternoon and headed to Fayetteville, AR. Wednesday we finally made it home around 6:45 pm, warn out and ready to relax. On Friday we received word that they were going to offer Ben the job and this morning he signed the written offer.  Ben's 1st day will be July 29th. I will follow soon thereafter. We are sad to be leaving our families again. We love spending time with them.

I am so thankful for all of the thoughts and prayers that have been offerred in our behalf over the past 4 months. We have felt their power and are excited for this new adventure in our lives. I know Heavenly Father knows each of us personally and knows what is best for us. I'm grateful for the experiences that I have had thus far and look forward to many more.

My Last and Final Breakup with Facebook.

This has been a very adventurous month. We have been travelling all around the country visiting and helping family. I've also been working along the way. We have been to Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Arkansas and Texas. I can't wait to be home early next week. I got a sinus infection along the way, which affected my workouts. After recovering, I was able to go to the pool everyday and swim for an hour. I look forward to lifting weights again next week.

So, the real reason that I'm blogging is that I'm finished with Facebook. It clogs up too much of my time, and I'm too busy with life, to be engulfed in status updates. I love seeing photos of my friends' families, so I'm keeping my Instagram account. If you'd like to follow me there, my username is doodlerae79. You can also drop me a line at crazyraester@gmail.com or call me.

I look forward in the near future to letting everyone in on what is keeping me busy. :)

Vacation

St. Louis Arch 

Ah, it feels so great to be on Vacation. We went to our nephew's baptism on Friday. He is the first to be baptized and it was a wonderful experience. The spirit was strong and it was so nice to see so many friends and family members. I played the piano for the baptism and Ben designed the program.

Right after the closing prayer. Ben and I hopped in the car in our Sunday clothes and drove to Lincoln, IL. Lincoln is in between Bloomington and Springfield. The rest of the family left the next morning. While we were driving on Saturday, Ben said he felt like we were in the amazing race as we had no idea where any of the other families were at on their journey. We arrived at the time share right after Ben's grandparents.

After we unpacked everything we loaded up the grandparents and went to have lunch at this little Mexican restaurant. It was ok, but overpriced. After the somewhat disappointing lunch we headed to the grocery store and got everything we needed for Sunday dinner and snacks during the week.

All of the rest of the families began to trickle in and finally we were all here about 6pm. All of the kids were wound up from the long car ride. It was hilarious to watch the spectacle. My niece was doing handstands and cartwheels. Her younger brother sang us his favorite song. Apparently, he sang for a long time on the car ride and his mom wanted to strangle him. Fortunately for him, he feel asleep :) Our other 4 year old nephew declared that he was going to go swimming. All of the kids went swimming and a few adults. I didn't put on my suit, but I did bring them the sponge balls I made from an idea on Pinterest. They are so fun and easy to make. If you have kids or nieces/nephews, I highly recommend making them. It only took about 20 minutes and $3 to make 7 good size sponge balls. They really get some air when they are wet.

Sunday we went to church. The grandparents and us had to save 16 chairs in the chapel. It was so fun to sit with everyone. After Sacrament meeting, Ben and I got our place ready for family dinner. I made corn cake (spoon bread). If you've never had it, you are missing out. It is the best stuff in the world. Chevy's and Don Pablo's are the only places I know that serve it. We had a fun afternoon eating tacos, celebrating birthdays and watching the kids open presents. We were a little worried on how our gift would go over for the 8 year old. It was a 5 lb. Gummy Bear. I wish I would have taken a picture. When we read the description it said that it was equivalent to 1400 gummy bears! I think he'll be chewing on that for a while.

After everyone had left, Ben and I took a beautiful drive through the mountains. On the windy roads we could see in the distance that a storm was approaching. The roads were so windy that we missed the storm completely. When we turned around, we could see the remnants of the storm on the ground. It was kind of weird. We saw a beautiful double rainbow. I just love the beauties of the earth.

When we returned home we had a rousing game of Phase 10 with my mother in law and her husband and the grandparents. There is definitely no mercy in playing games in this family.

This morning I woke up like clock work at 6:30, but forced myself to stay in bed until 7. I got up got ready and went to the gym. They gym here is small, but it will do the trick this week. After I finish this post, I believe it will be time to hop over to the pool and take a dip.

Clothes

So, to be honest, I have this fear of trying on clothes that were once tight after losing some weight. The fear of still not being able to fit and feeling like I'm not making enough progress starts to set in.

On Wednesday night, I overcame that fear and started trying on some of the capris that I could button, but were too snug to sit down or wear all day. Well, they fit and I felt good. Ben got a fashion show of all of the clothes in my closet and it looks like a few things that don't quite work still are just a month or two away!!

For me, I don't focus on the size. I focus on how I feel in the clothes that once sat in the closet hoping for another wear.

There are days that I eat really well and then there are days like yesterday that are somewhat good and then I went to a party and had treats and dips/chips. The one thing my friend Erica mentioned on her workout page is that even if you "cheat" or mess up your diet, don't beat yourself up. Acknowledge and move on.  I think that was one of my biggest hangups before.

This week's workouts have been going well. I can't believe tomorrow is Friday.  I have added some other items to my routine this week. Leg lifts, sit ups, some Jane Fonda moves I learned from my trainer years ago, more weight lifting machines and heavier weights and steps on the Biggest Loser circuit. I am starting to feel a difference in my strength level.

Working out is hard work, but I know it will be all worth it in the end. The reasons I am working out are:
1. My husband wants me to be healthy and live a long life and I do too.
2. We have a long history of heart disease and diabetes in my family.
3. We've been struggling with infertility and I believe it has something to do with my weight.
4. I want to feel good about myself and my accomplishments.

Drum roll please...

This week I met my goal of 6 days at the gym! Also, I'm down 13 lbs total! 10 lbs this week! Yahoo! I'm pretty excited to see my progress. This coming week should be good too. We leave on Friday after my nephew's baptism to head on family vacation to Branson, Mo. I have already made sure I'll have time to workout at the hotel Saturday morning before finishing the drive. There is also a nice gym at the time share we are staying at, so even though I will indulge on the food side of things, I'm still going to workout for 6 days!

Every week it's getting easier to go in the morning and then I can enjoy the rest of my day.

Accountability Part II

I weighed in this morning at 3.4 lbs lighter than last week!!! I did not meet my goal of 6 days at the gym. I did, however, make it 5 days and ate well, except on Saturday and Sunday due to the holiday and my mother in law's birthday.

Today I got up and I went to the gym and increased my weights and stair stepping. I got back on track with my eating too.

I have decided to move my weigh in days to Monday. It will help me be good over the weekends. I'm looking forward to see what next week brings.

Accountability Part I

I just looked at my last blog entry and that was a looong time ago. Well, I still need to be accountable, so here it goes.

It was a rough start to working out and eating right. I have this love/hate relationship with food. It seems like I could just look at it and I gain 3 lbs.

So, I have put away all of my excuses and geared up for the long journey down to being 100 lbs less by the end of this year. I have said this in the past, but I am actually going to do it. When I took a long hard look at myself, I see someone who needed a real kick in the behind. I need to start small and keep going with my goals.

This week's goal:

Workout 6 days a week: weights, stairs, cardio
Eat: Only when hungry, high protein, fiber, lots of fruits and vegetables


Mid week status:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday workouts complete :)  Happy Dance!

Monday:
Breakfast: Lean breakfast quesadilla
Lunch: Grilled cheese (not healthy)
Snacks: strawberries, apple, pineapple, salad
Dinner: Cheese ravioli with small amount of sauce

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Lean breakfast quesadilla
Lunch:  WW swedish meatballs w/ carrots
Dinner: WW chicken paremaesan

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Total raisin bran (1 cup) + 1/2 cup of Almond milk, 1/2 apple
Lunch will be a WW meal
Dinner will be some kind of salad with dressing on the side as I'm going out to dinner tonight.

I have started following one of my friend's from Indy on Facebook about loosing weight and it has truly inspired me.

I know that there are many times I beat myself up over falling off the wagon. I have made a personal commitment this time around that if I mess up, that doesn't mean my day is ruined, I just need to acknowledge my screw up and move on.  Life's too short to dwell on the little things.

My other goal is to keep updating this blog weekly with my progress. Friday will be weigh in day and I will let you know my progress.