Good afternoon everyone ! Just quickly read today's posts. I wish I had time now to respond to each of your posts individually (and get all the names straight!)- but I have to say - you are all awesome!!

I can definitely relate to the difficulty with the routine...and as well with the alcohol (well, wine :-).

I totally agree on the speaking in a kinder voice - I know sometimes I am my own worst enemy !

As for the talk about "clean eating", I am far from perfect in this area (hence the frozen dinner for lunch), but I do try to incorporate as much "clean" stuff, or at least a good portion of it, through my day. One problem I have though is that my tummy does not seem to like eating too many raw veggies, even though it is so convenient to snack on them !!

Marielle - for my Avatar - it may look like a serious, even sad, picture - but it actually represents something very positive for me. The photo was taken a few years ago as I was sitting and focusing right before attempting to break cement at karate. I wasn't successful, and in fact unfortunately broke my wrist, but (once I got over the pain and disappointment), it remains an example for me of the courage and determination I have and it keeps me going when I need a kick in the pants. I have not given up and in fact have since broken wood (cement days are done for me), with my LEFT hand. So, that photo is kind of my "You are brave and you can do it" icon. It is my "determined" look ! :-)

Now - as for today - I am focusing on pre-logging my day's food AND my karate tonight so that I will be there - no ifs ands or buts ! :-) Weekend ahead though - that is always the toughest time to stay on track for me.

Have a great rest of day girls! I will get in the swing of this thing soon, hopefully.

Johanne.

Hope everyone is doing great this morning! It's raining here today, so my office mates and I are wishing we were at home sleeping in! It's supposed to rain all weekend, and my girls have a horse show! Better locate my rubber boots!

Marielle, my youngest daughter's name is Sian too, but we pronounce it Shan (sounds like Shannon without the second syllable). She's named for her Welsh great-great grandmother and supposedly this is how it was pronounced according to my mother-in-law and her brother. Someone else in the family also used the name and pronounced it the same way. However, my children had a teacher from Wales and she said it should be pronounced like Sean. I like it and so far my daughter doesn't mind it. It's her middle name though (but what we call her at home) so I use her first name for doctor appointments and such. I cringe if I hear someone call her Cyan (which happens quite often!). Oh and congrats to your daughter on the tooth! This is the beginning of a new phase for you! Exciting, wonderful, but also sad too. She is growing up!

Cindy, glad you are still in good spirits! You too will finish C25K! Just know that even though I "graduated" last night, I'm still only covering 2.5 miles in 40 minutes! Lol! I still have a long way to go.

Johanne, that's amazing that you have broken wood with your hand! I really admire your dedication to your sport!

Emy

Forgot to add my to do list today! I'm actually not sure of my schedule yet. I may take today as a rest day because I'm heading out of town for the horse show. I'm hoping to convince my husband to take turns for the weekend. Me go down today and come home Saturday and he can go Saturday and come home Sunday. If we do that, then I will rest today, do weights tomorrow evening, and my run on Sunday. If I have to be there the entire weekend, then I will need to get my weights in this afternoon before I leave and try to run tomorrow morning.

Morning ladies ! It is a beautiful sunny day here in my neck of the woods (St-Hubert (south shore of Montreal), Quebec, Canada...and I am off work today. Plan to take advantage of it with an afternoon at the local pool with a friend of mine who is also off. This means I have to be very discplined and get some exercise in this morning (no karate classes today). I plan to do 30 minutes on the elliptical in the basement and then go and mow the front and back yard.

Now...to comment on everyone's post and try to get names and stories straight! It might take me a while to get it right:

Marielle: What lovely original names for your children! But I do hear you on THEIR point of view ! lol Thanks for the compliment!! I think your picture is fabulous !! I can relate to your comments about always watching what we eat, etc. I also don't like th eidea of having to be so vigilant all the time with EVERYTHING and thought I knew enough by now to get by with that, but the ten pounds lost that have returned say different: Losing teeth - quite a milestone!! Sometimes I miss those days ! :-)

Lisa - Hugs to you. I hope a better night sleep will make a difference; I know it always helps me even a little.

Emy - Thanks for the kind words and the encouragement ! My karate is a passion of mine now, really, although the aches and pains and longer recovery times that sometimes come with it as I age are at times difficult ! :-). You have a busy schedule ! Good for you for getting YOU time and exercise in in the midst of all of that ! p.s. My oldest daughter has always adored horses and would be so jealous !

Maureli - I always dread the smell throughout the house when I put the self cleaning oven on as well !! Ugh! Takes so long ! Thank you for your welcome and your kind words ! Also great that you keep getting your exercise in!

Kind of dreading the weekend a little since, as I said, it is off routine. I'm encouraged by my 0.4 pound loss this morning (and being now under the 150!) and don't want to blow it. Supposed to have dinner with friends tonight, out with my daughter tomorrow (though that will involve a lot of walking) and BBQ at my sister's on Sunday. Will have to be super vigilant (while not taking ALL the fun out of it) and try to get in some exercise to balance it out. Wish me luck !

Have a wonderful day everyone - wherever you are ! TGIF !

I decided to post my update separate in case I get distracted again! I am feeling much better about my momentum after the last couple days. I've tracked my calories and worked in the yard like a mule. I've been successful these past 5 weeks not weighing in everyday, just my one morning each week. But after seeing the 0.8 lb gain on Wed, I couldn't help but step on this morning to see if I was headed in the right direction. I'm down 1.8 in two days (probably all sweat from working outside and stoking the burn pile in the backyard all day yesterday - so sweaty). Perhaps that official weigh in was just an odd bump, which makes me feel better. Anyhow, the tracking has been positively reinforced by that scale reading this morning, tracking the rest of the week for me!

Today I will, hmmm, well, ummmm, I have nothing planned. What!? I've been running around so crazy all week. Our two-day cool weather streak is over here, so no yard work today. I think today I will get in a Just Dance workout and some home strength training. I will work on the finances a bit, and start my homeschool wrapup from last year. I hate grading papers, even with only two students, still hate it. I've got loads of stuff that needs to be entered into the computer so I can calculate their final grades. We've still got a few things to finish up too. Ooof, time to take off my summer-vacay blinders and commit to getting some things wrapped up.

6Km run done! Totalling 40.2K for this week!

Wow Maureen I don't think I have even run 40km thus month yet! Lol.

Today I did the colour run but we just walked most of the time. It was what we had planned as it is too crowded usually to run it. It was fun. I was the only mom up on the stage jumping & throwing colour with the kids. Lol

It is a dreary day here. I think DH is going not go to work so that we can go buy a BBQ. lots of spending this week but it is long overdue.

Johann: have fun at the amusement park! I used to love roller coasters, but they scare me more now!

Have so great Saturday everyone!

Good morning everyone!

Marielle: Loving my new car! There was always something going wrong with the old one, but the last straw was that the wheel started wobbling during the funeral procession & we kept picturing ourselves with the wheel falling off or something, with a car full of kids (had extra nieces in with us)... I loved not having car payments, but the stress of that was too much!
As far as the local fire goes, the storage part of the plant was destroyed, about 40 million dollars of damage. They say they are going to rebuild, and I hope for the sake of all of those employed there & the town tax base they do.

I will be heading out soon for a long run (coffee first). I will run 1hr & 20 minutes today. I don't know where or how far that will take me but the weather looks good, a little foggy which will keep me cool. I have found that I am getting a suntan on these long runs. I should probably start applying sunscreen, but I kinda like it! Normally because I work so much during the summer I don't have time to get any sun.

BTW... My 7 day challenge to myself is not working out very well. Hopefully today will work a little better in the food department since we have a new BBQ that I get to hopefully try out!

Lisa, a Chevy Traverse is very exciting! I hope you love it. That’s what we’re planning to get next. We haven’t had a car payment in 10 years, so right now it seems impossible to squeeze one into our single income lifestyle with two active, growing boys. We are planning on renting one to take on a trip to Virginia in October. We have to use a car-top carrier now to get all our gear in the Camry. I’m not convinced the Traverse will be that much better, but I agreed to a rental trial this fall.

Cindy, those temps and the half work day sound delightful!

Maureen, your mileage is inspiring!!!

Johanne, that fireworks competition sounds awesome! Go USA! We are huge fireworks fans here. We can’t buy the big ones in Georgia, but we can in Tennessee, so we always get some obnoxious ones when we drive through. Last time the cops came because they had received a “shots fired” call. Luckily they were happy it was us celebrating and didn’t hassle us. And yes, you will certainly burn calories walking the park and being terrified. A racing heart is a racing heart after all! I always suffer a few days after the coaster riding with my neck. And I think relaxing has nothing to do with it, it’s age, stupid age.

Today was cool, cloudy-foggy, and I took advantage and rode 17 miles at Stone Mountain this morning. It was fantastic. My husband and I have been tackling the mess of our garage yesterday and have more in store today. Despite working in the garage I still got my strength training in at the gym yesterday. I am really having some pain in my hip flexors though. I think I’ve figured it out now though (I’m a bit of a physical therapist-wannabe diagnosing my injuries online). It seems to be worse after I do the abductor and adductor machines at the gym. There are a couple hips flexors that also abduct the hip (pull it inward). And with my bike riding twice/week (which involves a lot of hip flexing) I think I’m stressing those muscles out and giving myself a little tendonitis. I’m going to lay down on a lacrosse ball today and holler real loud as I roll those muscle attachments out. Maybe you all will be able to hear me here! Lol. Have a lovely Sunday ladies!