Big News

I keep forgetting to post my big news. I am retiring in December. Yea!!! I am so excited about being able to be at home. I know for some people this may seem strange. After all, my kids are grown. There will be no one here at the house with me but ME. But that is truly where my heart is. I never really wanted to go back to work 8 years ago when I accepted this job. Or should I say, I was not looking for a job. One of my dental hygiene friends told me that my current boss was looking for a hygienist and that I should call them. I replied that I really did not want to go back to work even though dh wanted me to. When I saw the office and met all the staff, I was blown away. What a beautiful place to work. Well, the staff has changed somewhat, but my office is still a great place to work. However, I am 55 years old. My hands are tired. There are so many projects that I want to do here at home. I have a granddaughter. I know it was only two days a week, but those two days a week kept me from getting started on some of my big projects. I want to clean out two sheds, the garage, my attic, work in the flower beds, the garden spot, do more sewing for the granddaughter, finish some quilts and start some new ones, learn more from reading, do more Bible study, revarnish my kitchen cabinets, do more with my mother, help my friends with some of their projects, go do more adventure trips, do more P90x, ride my bike, fix up 669 (our hunting camp), try more new recipes, check out more blogs. I have so much I want to do. I am just so excited.

Day 58-P90X- Chest and Back

Gosh, it seems like it has been forever since I did chest and back. I did the plyometrics on Monday and skipped yesterday and so I was determined to get up early today and do something. I was worried that the pushups might hurt that shoulder that I injured last week. Well, I had absolutely no pain getting through this workout. I did the pushups- 15 from the feet and 10 from the knees. On some of them though I had to stop and rest a few seconds after 10, then do 5 more, and then do the 10 from the knees. Puls, I am still not going real far down to do my pushups. I did about 25 of the chest exercises with the bands. I am about to order the chinup bar. I don't know if I will even be able to do one of them, but it is something to aim for. I even did the decline pushups today... only about 10 of them, and not too far down to the floor; but, nevertheless, I did them! The only thing I did not do was the second set of the dive bombers. I just could not make myself do them. And, I did not do the cool down. I left early to head to work because I wanted to fill my car up with gas. It was only 6:45, and I thought... oh my gosh... I have been up for 2 hours!!! I am always so excited when I get done with a workout. How accomplished that makes you feel. So tomorrow is supposed to be yoga. I don't know yet if that is what I will do simply because I do not like the amount of time it takes to do the yoga. I am going to see Ryan Dobson (James Dobson's son) tomorrow night speak for the Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Day 57-P90X- Plyometrics

I was supposed to do chest today, but I did the plyometrics instead because I was scared that I would bother my shoulder from injuring it last Friday. I may try to do it tomorrow, or I may do the leg routine. I just know that doing shoulders or chest... anything that involves pushups might aggravate it. So I did not quite finish the entire plyometrics, but I did almost all of it. I waited until late today... the good news is is that I still did it. I did not even start until after 6:00 p.m., and you know how I usually just blow it off if I work out late in the day. I had company this morning, went and ran errands, and then made an unexpected trip to our deer camp. I will have to post a photo later. We have a two bedroom cabin with a loft. Now mind you... this is a deer camp, not a darling get-a-way cabin. HOWEVER; I have not given up the idea of adding some feminine touches to the place. Dh considers it "his" place... but I want to add a bit of my rustic touch. The loft has four twin beds. A friend of mine had shown me the sleeping porch out of a recent Southern Living magazine. We have several old patchwork quilts.. so I took those and put them on all the beds upstairs. I added some plaid pillow shams that I had that were not presently being used. It looks really cute up there. I may even add some pictures to the walls. I also vacuumed upstairs while I was there. I am hoping to have my unome friends come for a weekend there. Well, I will have more time later to continue making it more female-friendly. Okay, it is good to know I am in the last phase. I hope when I do P90X the next time, I will do it better.

Days 52,53,53,55,and 56-P90X

Okay, so I have been busy lately and I have not posted. I did my recovery week-core synergistics, yoga, cardio X, and kenpo, and a rest day. I just kinda went out of order. And yesterday... I got an injury. Yes, I was doing the core synergistics. I had just done the first set of pushups.. you know where you stagger your hands. I did about 25 of them.. left arm close to body-five pushups, right arm close to body-five pushups. I was fine, and then came the banana roll. It started off okay, but then one of the rolls when I rolled onto my right shoulder with my arm extended over my head, I got a pain. I quit for just a little while and hoped it was just the laying on my arm and that the pain would quit. It did, so I started back, and when I had to do another set of pushups, there was no way.. it hurt.. deep down in my shoulder. I went and got some ice and iced it for about 15 minutes. I am not hurting, but every now and then I can feel it. I don't think I can do any pushups for awhile. And that is what my next workout is supposed to be. I am supposed to be starting phase 3. So, I may just change the order and do the plyometrics and then see if I am healed good enough. I may just have to quit for awhile. I cannot believe I have injured myself- I did all the warmup and everything. What a setback. And to top it off, those 8 lbs that it took me all summer to lose... I have gained 5 back. And I am not overeating. I have really been doing good with my eating. Ugh! However, my daughter told me I looked thinner in my backside. My clothes are not tighter. Well, I may have to just do some walking for awhile. I am not a good example for P90X.. other than I persevere and don't give up.

Happy Halloween

And now I just could not resist posting this photo of my little angel getting spooked!!!!

Tau Kappa Reunion

For those of you that don't recognize the name of this sorority..well, it is not a national sorority. It was a local sorority at Tyler Junior College. Back in the old days you could get an associate degree in dental hygiene in two years. I know you can still get an associates' in 2 years, but now I think most dental hygiene degrees are spread out over 3 years. It was tough going for me back then. I was in the top 10 percent of my high school class, but when I got to dental hygiene school, I was probably somewhere in the middle. It was very hard, and I still wanted to have fun so I joined this sorority. There were not many of us that graduated. We were definitely fun-loving girls. Well TJC had their homecoming along with their annual alumni meeting. One of my TK sisters organized getting us all together. What fun we had seeing each other after 35+ years. That's right, I have been a dental hygienist for 35 years now. We were able to reconnect with information from the alumni office and also through Facebook. I know alot of people think that FB is for the kids, but I have found so many friends via FB. It has been a great tool to keep in touch. I am going to post a photo from 1973 along with a photo from last weekend. Can you find me in the old photo? The photos are of the gals that I pledged with. I don't have the large group photo. There ended up being about 45 of us altogether. Some came as late as spring 1977. I got to meet alot of these fun women. Being in this sorority bonded us together. One of the ladies that was unable to attend had had double by-pass surgery. We gave a love offering either money or gift cards- the money alone ended up being over $800. Another TK had her husband come with her because the previous week she had had a double mascetomy. Yes, there were lots of stories to be told. We laughed, we cried, and we had a great time making more TK memories!

Day 50 and 51- P90X- Yoga and Core Synergistics

Yes, I am still doing it.. but oh the guilt... yes.. what in the world happened to me. I went out of town to a sorority reunion. I did not get much sleep. So I get home.. I am tired.. sleepy.. and still so overwhelmed with all the clutter in my house from my mother's move. I have been working hard on it lately.. going through photo albums, discarding, choosing different people to give the photos to- the high school alumni office, the college alumni office, friends that own an antique mall, Goodwill, trash. I want to finish this job so bad, but there are so many hours in the day- and then I do work part-time, clean house, wash clothes, cook, and wash dishes. And I don't move as fast as I used to. I even just wanted to skip this recovery week since I had definitely been recovering for a week. I talked to Coach Jen, and we both agreed to complete the workouts for week 8. Gosh, when I think I should really be finishing P90X, I feel bad, but then I try to lift myself up by saying, " Hey Dee, just jump back in. You are not going to have the same results, but you are still better off than you were before you began P90X." Just remember I am not a great example to follow as far as being diligent, but you can follow me when you fall "off the wagon". So, I did skip the Yoga. I did the Core Synergistics this morning. I had to modify a bunch of those exercises. I just could not do them. I did okay on the rolls and the superman/banana rolls. I mainly cannot do those pushups the way he wanted them. And I don't hop with both feet. I jump with both feet, but only lift one leg to do it. So I think tomorrow it is yoga again. I probably will do it. I am thinking that I need to do more cardio. The fat is just not coming off. And if I had only walked or walk/run those days that I skipped P90X then that would have been okay. I just know that I need to do something everyday. I think in the future, if I decide to skip because I am just bored or tired of my workout, then I will get on the treadmill or get outdoors, or put on a dance video... just do something!!!! I am going to post some photos of my reunion.