Cathe Fans Part 5

Hi ladies, quick update. I had a MAJOR breakthrough today! I woke up feeling very well and was full of energy. So I went to my yoga and fusion sculpting class! It felt great! I was able to do forearm planks, all kinds of ab work too. I am beyond excited. No Aleve was needed today.
My right pinky is still hurting and my right knee too but that's nothing compared to where I've been.
While in class I kept thanking God because today felt like a miracle. I was tired after that so I rested this afternoon while I did 3 loads of laundry.

Thank you so much for your get well wishes and for keeping me in your prayers. This doesn't mean my meds have kicked in. I think I had a false sense of feeling better over the weekend and I reduced the pred. By Tuesday I was pretty stiff and could hardly lift my left arm, I had swollen fingers and my knee was tender. I took an Aleve and upped the pred to the right dose and today I felt like a new woman. I guess over the weekend I was until the effects of the steroid shot I got on Thursday.

I pray I continue feeling well. I'm doing two classes tomorrow too! OMG ladies, I'm beyond happy. Today my daily activity was over 200%. I was barely doing 25%.

Goodnight and thanks for being there for me!
Thelma

Hi Ladies! Today’s workout started with Cathe Live Vertical Loading 2. I had planned on doing another PHA workout today, but my lower body is feeling the workouts this week. So while the Vertical Loading format still works the lower body, whereas lower body work is 50% of PHA, it is less than 20% of Vertical Loading (5 upper body and 1 lower body exercises per round). It felt great today. I followed it with Cathe Live Hearts on Fire for cardio.

Thelma, so glad to hear you sounding so well!!! I bet it felt fantastic to want to get out of the house and do something. I am so happy for you. Hopefully your improvements continue. I imagine it will take some time to get back up to full speed but hooray on where you are!!

Laurie, glad you enjoyed the workout.....even with sweat in your eyes. We are still enjoying lower humidity, but that is coming to an end today/tomorrow. But even then the temps are predicted to stay in the 80s for the most part so it is quite tolerable. Glad you enjoyed the game! We still want to get to a Braves game but the thought of sitting in a stadium during the July heat in Georgia does not really appeal to me so it will have to wait until September or next spring. I don’t have any stickers for my calendar but I should probably get some to easily mark some of my favorite combos. I have always relied on my memory....but let’s just say my memory isn’t what it used to be. Now I just need to remember to buy stickers.

DH and I are off to Memphis tomorrow to watch the pros play golf. Hope you all enjoy the weekend!! See you Monday.

Laurel

Morning Ladies,

Another beautiful morning, and we are suppose to have the same all weekend. I'm looking forward to it. My workouts was RAW Kickbox Contouring. I used 2 lb weights for the punching. If you haven't noticed, I have been alternating boxing with weights, just to see how that feels.

Laurel, Great decision on the workouts. It is sometimes hard to pay attention to our bodies when it gets sore or overworked. I really like the sound of the vertical loading format, sounds like it would be fun. Have a great weekend watching the pros play golf. My Mom is a Braves fan, they used to be in Milwaukee before they moved. Guess that is why she is still a fan. Hope that you can get to see one of their games in September or Spring.

Thelma, Nice job on the workouts. Sorry to hear that you had a restless night. Love those temps, and I'm with you on enjoying them. I hope that it isn't raining tomorrow morning, so that I can go outside and enjoy my surroundings with some coffee. I don't know why that is always such a great way to start a Saturday morning.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Laurie

Morning Ladies,

Well my Monday morning was a no workout morning. I was so tired from this weekend, that all I did was pull on my workout clothes and sit on my butt. I finished up the landscaping that I had started at the beginning of July, sure was labor intensive. This weekend was hot, not unbearable, but hot. I still have some to go, but I'm going to take my time with the last phase. I just wanted to get it to the point that DH didn't have to help me anymore. He really wants to get back to working on his car, and my project has been taking up a lot of his weekend time.

The only bad thing this weekend is that my car wouldn't start when we got out of Home Depot yesterday. Our youngest's bf came and picked us up, and I'm using my dd's car today. Good thing she doesn't have to work today. DH changed out the battery, but that wasn't the problem. He thinks it might be the starter.

Erika, Your summer sounds a lot like mine. Glad to hear that you are enjoying the summer. Those workouts will be there for our long winter months. I got out of the car this morning and my glasses steamed up. I couldn't see, so I had to take them off. We are suppose to have rain today. We had some this morning at the time that we usually walk Rocket, so he didn't get his walk. That is okay, because he is at daycare today.

Have a great day!
Laurie

Hi Ladies! it sounds like you had a pretty good weekend! We had a really nice weekend too. I am definitely feeling better. I am still dealing with the fatigue and little aches but nothing like it was before. The meds must be kicking in.
On Friday I did a restorative yoga class and on Saturday we walked around Blairsville, GA. We love that town and go there for brunch on Saturdays often and last Saturday we also checked out their Green Bean Festival. The only green bean I saw there was a wooden green bean guy! LOL
Lots of crafts there. We bought a beautiful wooden American Flag for our cabin.
I actually made dinner on Sunday. This was the first time I've made us dinner since last year! I tested new recipes and I was honestly scared about them not tasting good. I'm happy to report that they were delicious! I made Skinnytaste Air Fryer Buttermilk Chicken and Crustless Zucchini pie. DH looked pretty scared as we were getting ready to eat but he actually had two portions of each!
Tomorrow we will try another air fryer recipe called AIR FRYER CAJUN SHRIMP DINNER. These 3 recipes are on the website. BTW, I highly recommend an air fryer! At first, I bought a Cuisinart toaster/convection oven/air fryer combo. We've used it but it's not as versatile as the one I just got. We've had it for about 2 weeks and we've used it at least 3 times each week. The house doesn't get hot and you don't get food smells all over the house.

Today I did Gentle Yoga and Barre which was a full-body workout. We thought we were going to die! Tomorrow I'm going to try these free classes at a Baptist church in town with our new friends. One is an aerobics class and the other one is a Barre class.

Laurie, you must've been super exhausted today! Congrats on finishing your landscaping! Sorry about your car though!
Glad you had good temps over the weekend!
Saturday was pretty sunny and hot but not humid so it wasn't bad. We'll be in the low to mid 80's this week during the day and 60's at night. There are chances of rain all week. We had rain this afternoon for a little while and it really felt cooler after that.

Erika, so good to hear from you! Do what you can with workouts and enjoy family and girl time! This week I have three events to attend so it should be fun. On Wed a lady from the yoga studio invited to her house to celebrate one of the instructor's birthday. It's a potluck lunch so it should be fun. On Thursday eve I have to go to my private yoga instructor's studio grand opening and on Friday eve we always go out for drinks/dinner with our new friends.
The ER stay was short but scary getting to that point. I think the worst of the pain is behind me. I am going to do everything I can holistic to help myself too. Definitely, healthy eating is in order and exercise helps a lot. Thanks so much about the picture! I am so bad at selfies but I lucked out with that one on Friday! LOL

Laurel, what a great weekend you had! So glad you had such a great time! That was a lot of walking! WOW!
Walking about 30 miles sounds like a serious workout to me! Great job on your regular workouts!
You're so kind about my photo! Thank you!
We really don't haven't had much humidity but when the sun is shining it's pretty hot! So we've had hot temps because of the sun but not humid. Because I am taking the chemo and the lupus meds I have to protect myself from the sun. You should see me! I wear a wide brim hat, a sun shirt and I have a sun umbrella which is something like SPF 50+. What a difference the umbrella makes! Apparently, you're about 10-15 degrees cooler under these umbrellas and I have to say that I agree.
BTW, if you have an abundance of zucchini, check out the Skinnytaste.com site for awesome recipes! Tomorrow I want to try making a zucchini/banana bread. It calls for chocolate chips but DH can't have that so I'll probably add some dry cranberries or raisins.
I think you're going to be wishing for fall to get here quickly! People here say that the spiders that build those giant cocoons on trees are early this year. They claim it's a sign of a cold fall/winter! Thank God I kept my winter clothes and coats because now that our bodies are used to warm temps, the cooler temps will feel very cold!

Hi Tami!

Goodnight ladies!
Thelma

Hi Ladies! Today’s workout was Cathe Live Rapid Fire Legs and Core followed by Cathe Live Go The Distance spin class. I really had to talk myself into working out again today but I am glad I did. I ended up really enjoying both workouts.

Thelma, I am so glad to hear you are continuing to feel better. Sounds like you are creating some good friendships there! You have a busy social calendar for sure. I think you will definitely be much colder than we are in the winter given your location/elevation, but I was a little surprised how chilly it got here last winter. Not Alaska, of course. But chilly enough for gloves and a heavier jacket at times. I am not ready for it yet! Unfortunately we only got a few zucchini this year. It was enough to make a few loaves of bread and also grill some with a few meals.....but not TOO many. Our little plant is still trying to produce, but I think the heat is getting to it a bit. My favorite zucchini bread recipe is blueberry zucchini bread. But I have made some that call for chocolate as well and used a combo of dried cranberries and nuts that were really good. Okay....now I’m hungry! We love our air fryer. It is small, which is perfect for the two of us. We have only side items in it (onion rings, croutons, fries, chips, etc) but my sister recently recommended making chicken in it, and since you did it as well, I may give that a try.

Laurie, glad you are doing better today. That is a really good workout by Jessica. Well, pretty much all of Walk Strong 3 is good! Sounds like you have a good plan for this week since you are feeling tired. Best to listen to what your body is telling you. I hope you get your car back soon and it is good to go for another 225K miles!!

See you tomorrow.

Laurel

Hi Ladies, had a little setback today. My left middle finger swelled up to twice the size of my ring finger. The middle joint seems to be the problem and my finger is all curved. I can't make it go straight right now. I took an Aleve and it got a little better.
I tried the Barre class at the church today and I loved it! The instructor was great! She used gliding discs, resistance loops, and baby dumbbells. The instructor does every move very slowly so you know which body part is getting worked on. I will try her aerobics class tomorrow.

Today's recipes were another huge hit. We are loving our new air fryer! We had the Air Fryer Cajun Shrimp dinner and Banana Zucchini bread. I bought a giant zucchini at the farmer's market last Saturday. I used it to make 3 different dishes! LOL. Cooking is not my thing but I'm actually enjoying it. It's so weird to me to be enjoying this cooking thing. I was telling DH that I'm scaring myself for just wanting to keep on cooking! LOL

Laurie, so glad you had a better morning today than you did yesterday! Hopefully, you'll get your car back soon! Great workout!

Thanks on the picture comment. We never imagined we'd be so happy here!
The fact that I'm feeling better is really a huge relief for both of us. I think this is why I'm cooking these days. It's my way of saying to the DH thanks and I love you for being there for me when I needed you the most. I love three-bean salad!

Laurel, great workouts and so good of you for getting that second workout in!

Moving to Blue Ridge is one of the best things that has happened to us. We are so happy here, and the new friendships we are creating are the icing on the cake. Such great people! We've never been social butterflies and now we are! LOL
We had a weird temp day. It went from cool to hot, back to cool and then hot again! In the winter there were days in BR that were much colder than in MA! 40's now will feel like high 20's here! LOL

Don't know if you're feeding the hummingbirds but people make a big deal about the hummers here which I just love. We've had hummer wars over the feeders since yesterday. We thought these little birds were going to kill each other! They fought today but not as bad as yesterday. I have 4 feeders out on the deck too! They are so territorial!

Sorry, your zucchini plant didn't perform well for you! I bet the zucchini/blueberry bread is very good! I have another giant zucchini so I may buy some fresh blueberries to make another bread next week.

I highly recommend looking up the Skinnytaste air fryer recipes! Gina has a cookbook dedicated to the air fryer which is nice.
So glad you have an air fryer Laurel! We ended up getting a 5.8 qt, square basket one because we got tired of making things in batches. Some meals are still done in batches but we can now eat right after batch one is done. We have yet to try the air fryer onion rings but we have made fries. What a great idea to make croutons in the air fryer!

Tami, welcome back! I am so happy you had such a wonderful vacation! So much fun! You rode a rollercoaster for the first time! LOL. Did you scream?
Great workouts! I do remember you doing that bike race! Wow! Best of luck!

You're so sweet! I know you and the other ladies are happy for me about my improved health. Thanks for the comment on the photo!

Hi Erika!

Goodnight ladies!
Thelma

Hi Ladies! Quick check-in today as I am headed out to my hair appointment in a few minutes, in addition to coloring it, I am going to try the process of removing some of the frizz from my hair. In Florida I cut it short to manage it in the humidity but let it grow out again in Alaska for warmth on my neck. I have toyed with cutting it short again, but I am kind of enjoying the length so the girl that does my hair recommended this. We’ll see how it works.....but my appointment may be about five hours long! But if it means my hair is more manageable, it will be worth it. Anyhow, for workouts this morning I did Burn Sets Bi’s And Tri’s followed by Cardio Core Circuit.

Tami, so glad you enjoyed your time with your family! Sounds like you had all kinds of fun. Woo-hoo on the roller coaster! I have yet to be on one myself. I am in Heavy week (Circuits was last week for me), but go with what feels good to you. I may change up my weeks in this last half a bit anyhow. To what? I don’t know. But I am toying with adding another heavy week instead of doing the Bootcamp week. But that is just a tentative thought right now. I just find I am missing some heavier weights.

Thelma, sorry about the setback with your hand, but hopefully it is short-lived. Good job with the workout. I am so happy you are happy there in BR!! That is just so good to hear. Like Laurie said, your love for cooking probably comes from having more time.....as well as wanting to do something nice for your DH. We don’t feed the hummingbirds yet, but I think we will next year. I had one at the front door just yesterday that was attracted to a flowering plant I have on the porch. But we are still feeding the other birds which has turned into quite a source of entertainment for DH and I. Who knew it would be so fun to watch?

Laurie, I love that routine by Jessica. It is one of my favorites of hers when my body is tired. She has another one out there called something like Recovery Day Stretch that is really good too. It is along the same concept of just basic stretches. Love that you are doing what feels good this week! The onion rings in our air fryer were SO good! So worth having an air fryer just for that. Enjoy those cucumbers! Hope you get your car back soon.

See you tomorrow!

Laurel

Hi Ladies! Today’s workout was 4DS Lower Body Weights followed by the 4DS Kickbox/Bootcamp Cardio Power premix. It was fun revisiting these workouts today. So my hair is less frizzy.....by still frizzy. I am going to give it a little while before I make a real assessment of whether it was worth the time and $$. I am a bit undecided right now to be honest, but I am glad I tried it to see if anything would work on my hair.

Laurie, glad you have your car back! And not a bad deal on the repairs either. I love those Pyramid workouts. I have no idea why CCC sounded good yesterday because it rarely does anymore. But I guess there are days like that which is why I hold on to workouts I rarely do! I need to return to some good stretching. For some reason I feel like my workout schedule has been completely off since we moved. It hasn’t been, but I feel like it has been. And that has me reaching for light workouts on Saturdays.....but not stretching or yoga. I know I would benefit far more from those latter types of workouts....but still reach for others! I can’t explain myself sometimes....even to me.

See you tomorrow.

Laurel

Hi Ladies, I had such a fun day on Wednesday at the Barre instructor's bday celebration! I left the house at 10:45 AM and returned at 4:15 PM! I did two classes on Wed morning. The 9 AM Aerobics at the church was fantastic. I felt like I was doing a Cathe Low Impact HIIT class minus weights. When the class was over the instructor looked at me and said: "You're a pro! You've done this before!" Too funny! I told her that was the most I've moved in a couple of months. I kept up with her and felt great! I then ran back home to get the dish I had prepared for the party, went to the yoga studio and did a Fusion sculpting class. I was exhausted after all that so today I still felt tired. I took a Barre class and that is always hard but fun. I am feeling DOMS all over my thighs! Great stuff!
Tonight I went to my private yoga instructor's studio opening. It's a really small studio but very nice. I thought it was in BR but it is in Ellijay which is about 20 minutes south of BR. I overheard her talking to one of her instructors and she was talking about adding a PIYO class on Sundays. I got excited about the PIYO class part but not so much about the Sunday part! LOL

I am going to start to give up some of the gentle yoga classes and will take LouAnn's classes at the church instead. At least that is assuming my body behaves. Mon and Wed aerobics and Barre on Tuesdays. The instructor won't teach this coming Monday so I'll do the gentle yoga then.

My middle finger is doing much better, the swelling went down but it still hurts a little. I am definitely feeling better and have started to gain strength in my hands. I couldn't even open a bottle of water and now I can!

Looks like the next 4-5 days will be rainy ones around here. Nice temps though. We're meeting our retired friends tomorrow in the late afternoon and DH and plan to go out to dinner on Saturday night. I think our temps have been in the low 60's at night but where our house is located so far the mornings have been very nice.

Laurie, great workouts! Nice job using 2lb weights for punching the other day!! That JS yoga workout sounds great!
I hate sweat getting in my eyes but it hurts really bad when you are wearing sunblock and that also gets into your eyes! OUCH!
So glad you have your car back and how nice of your co-worker to share his vegetables with you!

I highly recommend looking into an air fryer. Now that I know better I wouldn't buy the toaster oven looking kind. I would buy a large capacity one even if just the two of you if you're planning to do serious cooking like a whole chicken. you wouldn't believe how juicy that chicken was! You could have the chicken one night right out of the air fryer with whatever side dish and the next day you can turn that chicken into some other dish. You can get ideas from the skinnytaste web site. The banana bread and the Southwestern Black Bean and Avocado salad was a huge hit at the party. BTW, if you ever make it get two avocados because one is not enough. I also added 1.5 tomatoes instead of just a medium one. I thought it was too small.

Laurel, did you get a Brazilian blowout? Awesome workouts Laurel!
I use Morocan Oil styling products to control the freezies
https://www.moroccanoil.com/us_en/hair-care/wavy-curly-hair

Specifically, I mix the Moroccanoil Treatment Original with smoothing lotion and the intense curl cream.

Tami, nice job with those workouts and congrats to your company for setting a new record for the number of orders in July! I am sure you are very busy! Good luck on Saturday with the bike race!

The setbacks are very disappointing but nice that I'm meds I seem to recover faster. At least I know that Aleve seems to help most of the time with the exception of the time I had to go to the ER.
I think you ladies are right about me liking cooking because I have the time. I definitely want to do something nice for DH. It is so rewarding to watch DH have extra helpings of the food. not sure what we'll make next week except for air fryer breaded pork chops.
I may make the Cajun Shrimp dish with chicken!

OMG, I can't believe you didn't scream on that rollercoaster ride! Good for you! LOL

Hi Erika!

Goodnight ladies and have a wonderful weekend!!
Thelma