Friday, July 27, 2012

Fitness 500!

So this is VBS week at church/work and I've not spent nearly enough time near a computer.  As I commented to a dad yesterday, I totally underestimated the ability of 15 kids to wear. me. out.  Seriously.  I've been leaving work at 5:30, driving home, and crawling right into bed this week.  But, I had a super-exciting moment this morning on the scale that I wanted to share with y'all--

I officially weigh the least since purchasing our scale in Winter 2005-2006.  We entered our heights, weights, and other details into the scale, and every time I get on, it tells me how much my weight has gone up (or down) compared to that first weigh-in.  Today, for the first time, the scale showed a net loss.  So my "unofficial" weight is just under 190 (189.2).  That alone is exciting (for beating my last two attempts at weight loss), but is made doubly so by beating out that very first weigh-in.  

THEN.  (Yes, it gets more exciting!)  I pulled up the blog to share the exciting scale-related news and realized that this post (this very post that you're reading right now) is our 500th post here at the MP!  Crazy, right??  I feel almost bad for not realizing this milestone was approaching--some blogs would do something special for a special occasion like this.  Sadly, I'm too focused on VBS to even think clearly about a special giveaway to mark this one.  

So--reader involvement time--What do you think we should do to celebrate 500 posts??

Friday, July 20, 2012

Fitness Friday--July 20

I had the best walk Monday morning (actually, it was hot, insanely humid, and it took me the better part of an hour with a fan pointed right at me to recover), and it felt so good to be back on the walking wagon (that part is true).  I've missed regular walks and am glad to be back at it.  My WW weigh-in is evidence that I've been doing something right, as I weighed in at 191.0 this week.  This is a huge milestone, as I went back and dug up records from previous weight loss attempts.  Y'all, I've not weighed less than 191 since probably some time in 2005 or 2006.  In 2010 I made it just to 191.0 before I started gaining.  My 2007 weight loss had a similar result. We'll see what this year brings for me!

With respect to fiscal fitness, I mentioned last week that we're starting our annual spending freeze early this year.  (Read about our first spending challenge back in 2008 here) Specifically, this year we're doing two things.  First, we are each limited to $75 for eating out, entertainment, and other personal incidentals.  To hold us to that limit, we're using cash which is totally foreign.  Does anyone really use cash anymore?  Second, we're limiting the grocery budget to $125 a week.  To help meet that goal, I'm now back in charge of grocery shopping.  We're under $60 for the week, though that's really because we are saving some to go shopping with on Saturday for our game night.  Simply put, when we started pulling up the pie-charts in mint.com, it became clear that our food budget (groceries, restaurants, fast food, etc) was out of control.  Way out of control.  If we can stick to this challenge for a few months, I think we'll be on our way to new food spending habits!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Thankful Thursday--July 19

This week, I'm thankful for Bill Meck (For those of you not in Lexington, he's our local weatherman.  He lives for severe weather and there's no one I trust more than him...even when he's kind of freaking me out.).  We had some severe storms go through yesterday evening, and when I couldn't understand the 'voice from the sky' as I walked in the front door, it was so reassuring to know I could just go downstairs, turn on Bill Meck, and know that I'd be informed.  (Yes, there are other weathermen and women in town, both on WLEX and the other television stations, but I'd bet money that Bill Meck is everyone's favorite.)

I'm thankful, too, for Fr. Johnnie who has been out of town for the last couple weeks.  This is his first full week back, and it's so nice to have him back in the office.  The only counter to this is that the "problem parishioners" are all flooding in this week to see him.  The awesome thing, though, (and what makes me so thankful for him) is that Fr. Johnnie has an awesome sense of humor and lightens the mood when I'm complaining!

Finally, I'm thankful for our group of friends, who are coming over Saturday evening for game night.  We haven't hosted in a while, and our gatherings haven't really involved games in a while, so I'm really excited to just have everyone over and pull out some board games.

What are you thankful for this week?

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Anniversary flowers--July

It's been awhile since I shared a picture of my anniversary flowers, so I thought I'd pop in with my most recent bouquet--


The best part of this particular visit to the florist?  Being told that I'm not buying as much as J'd apparently intended.  The florist is fairly certain that I've got at least another year of fresh blooms coming my way!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Just another Manic Monday

I would love to have an exciting post about all the exciting things going on at the MP, but really, I don't.  J brought work home this weekend and I pretty much just vegged out. Don't get me wrong--that was awesome, just not exciting.  (During most of the year, a quiet weekend without plans is a fleeting dream, so that fact that I've had two in a row is not lost on me, and I'm making the most of it.)  I'm pretty sure that the most exciting thing that happened was me thinking to run the silverware container through the dishwasher (SO clean and white again!!).  
On tap today is a good walk, laundry, grocery shopping, gutter replacement company shopping, and a vestry meeting (work for me).  I'm so glad I enjoyed a quiet weekend, because today will be anything but!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Fitness Friday--July 13

Okay, so it's been three weeks awhile since I posted a Fitness Friday post.  In the past, that probably would have meant I'd fallen off the healthy living wagon and was too embarrassed to discuss it publicly.  Guess what?  That's not the case!  When I last posted I had lost a bit more than 28 pounds and was solidly in the 190's.  Now, nearly four weeks after that weigh-in, I've reached my "Summer" goal and am happily hanging out in the low 190's!  Getting past this threshold will be another long-term goal for me--to reach and to stay there for awhile without bouncing back up as I've done so many times before.  While schedules and such have prevented my Monday walks with B for the last few weeks, I have managed to squeeze in walks with J, as well as a dance class.

With regard to fiscal fitness, J and I have decided to put ourselves on our annual fall spending freeze a little early.  The goal for this year?  Keep personal discretionary spending (hobbies and meals out) to $75 a week each.  I reviewed our food spending for the first half of 2012 the other day, and lets just say we spend a lot of our budget there.  We start Monday, and I'll keep you posted!


How are you doing at working towards your summer time fitness goals?

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Thankful Thursday--July 12

First off, I'm so thankful for readers who don't give me a hard time about sporadic posting, but still drop in every so often to check for new posts.  I've had great intentions and ideas for posts for the last week or two, but have been lacking in time (energy? motivation?) to get them written.  Today seemed like a good time to jump back in!

Second, I'm thankful for J, who I've come to realize is an incredibly tolerant man/husband.  Tuesday night I dragged him off to dance lessons.  Just because.  We Survived.  He even managed to crack a few jokes with our instructor and avoided stepping on my toes (more than once or twice).  I think we'll go back.  Now, don't expect to see us as pros on Dancing with the Stars or anything, but maybe (just maybe) you'll catch us on the dance floor at a wedding someday.

Finally, I'm so thankful for the DAR ladies I call friends.  I had the best time at our national convention, Continental Congress.  I didn't have nearly enough time to catch up with old friends, but to see them all briefly, and to work together for the Society, just makes me SO happy!  I can't imagine keeping myself busy with a better group!

So what are you thankful for this week?