Day 22 and Day 23- P90X-Core Synergistics

Okay, I put these two together because I did not do Day 22. That is right, I skipped Day 22 because it was the yoga. I did not do my workout on Saturday or Sunday. And today I wondered would I do it or not. Because, I was scheduled to meet the movers at my mother's house at 8:00 a.m. But I got up, and I did it. Or shall I say I attempted it. Tough workout!! and when Tony said that we could quit or go on with him? what do you think I did? That's right.. today I quit! That banana roll.. oh my gosh.. banana, superman, banana, superman, ban, sup, he went so fast, he almost didn't finish the word. I was doing all that rolling and just a grunting. And then the one where you roll back and then come back and pop up on your feet... no way. I am so bad at this. I had to push myself with my hands to try to get up, and by the time I was struggling to get up, they were already on their way back down. Anyone watching me today would have really had a good laugh, or maybe a good cry because they would have laughed so hard they would have been crying. I don't even know what tomorrow is because in the morning, I don't plan on doing anything. I did not finish with the moving until after 6:00 p.m. and I had to come home and take three Advil and soak in Epson Salts. My legs, my feet, my back, my butt, all of it ached. I am so tired, and I have to work tomorrow.... so, it is off to bed for me!!!

Day 21-P90X- Ab Ripper X

Yes, Day 21 is supposed to be a stretch or rest day. But I do about 2-3 rest days a week, and I am not doing the AbRipper X like I supposed to. I know I should be more on course with this, but surely doing it my way is still good, right? So this morning I knew I had another full day of moving boxes; therefore, I opted to do the Ab Ripper X instead of starting week 4 with the yoga. And like I said... an hour of yoga... please.. someone help me. I am going to try to do yoga tomorrow since tomorrow will be Day 22 and that means the start of my recovery week. So I have a few yoga DVDs that are probably 40-60 minutes long. I am going to do one of those tomorrow. And then I supposed to do the Core Synergistics on Sunday. That looks tough!!! And then I think it is Kenpo X. I must say that today when I was doing the Ab Ripper, I struggled because my quadriceps were so sore.. you know where you have to keep your legs up. I think that kick-boxing really made me sore. And then it is yoga again and kenpo X again. And Sunday for me will also be making sure everything is ready for the movers to come. Monday is moving day. So, I will just have to see how I hold up. And about the diet... Dr. Peppers have been very stimulating for me to get through all this. I think when I settle down a little, I might go back to Spark people. I just seem to do so much better with tracking my calories this way. I do like drinking the protein shakes and the recovery drinks though. My weight kinda went back up. So since June 1... I have only lost 6 lbs. It was 8 lbs. But I have not measured, and I really think I am losing inches. I may not be posting those "after photos" until a couple of P90X semesters. Okay... yoga.. tomorrow!!

60th Birthday Party

One of the photos of dh opening one of his 60 gifts. He got some nice gifts too.

My daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.

All my kids- son-26, son-21, grandaughter-6 mos, daughter-28, and son-in law-28

My sister-in-law is included in this photo.

So here is how the birthday party played out. First let me just say that my husband does not like being the center of attention. He does not like giving gifts, nor does he like getting them. He would just as soon all birthdays just breeze on by. So when his 60th birthday was approaching, I asked him if he would like to have it with friends, and he said no. Usually for birthdays, we always either go out to eat or he fries catfish for everyone. He is the best fish fryer in the whole wide world. But we couldn't have him cook on his birthday. So we decided that it would just be family, but I did ask his sister and her husband to come. He did not want them to go to all that trouble to make the trip from north Texas. But they were thrilled to come. My mother who lives here in town also joined us. I told him that I knew he did not care about this birthday party, but I was not doing it just for him... I was doing it for our kids. Each time I told this story.. whether it was to him, one of the kids or a friend, I would choke up.... I said, " listen, I am not just doing this for Daddy, I am doing it for all of you. I remember my daddy's 60th birthday, and it is a great memory that I have of him. And when your daddy is gone from this world, I want you to have this cherished memory too." So my daughter came up with the 60 gift ideas. We knew this would rock his world since he hates opening gifts. So we all laid out one gift on the coffee table. After he opened those gifts, I had kept asking him how old he was. And so I said, " how old are you?" He just gave me this puzzled look, like what have you been smokin'? I said, " I don't think that is all... you are 60... and then we walked in with a big box of gifts. He was saying, " Dee.. no.. Dee... uhuh... no... quit... no." But we were all relentless with him, and made him get with it. Pretty soon, he got into the spirit of it all. There were joke gifts.. fake look-a-like Viagra ( blue M&Ms), wipes, fleet enemas... and then some good gifts- athletic shorts, T-shirts, polo shirts, lawn chair, fishing stuff, hunting stuff, cigars, etc. We then went to the meal

Since we were not going out, I decided to do the meal like we WERE going out to a very nice restaurant. Now, this country girl has never cooked beef tenderloin. But have no fear, I have a great friend in the catering business, and she came through for me. She told me how to prepare it. I had my youngest son be the waiter. The first course was salad and bread. Then they had baked potato casserole, Italian green beans, and the beef tenderloin cooked in wine sauce with mushrooms. It was all delicious. We have dimmed lights, pretty china, candles, and flowers. I forgot to mention the appetizers before dinner- hummus dip and brie cheese with homemade blueberry sauce, and red and white wine. We finished the dinner with a Marble Slab strawberry cake. We had the Hawaiian theme mainly to just dress Hawaiian. That will be our Christmas card photo. My husband told me and then emailed everyone and told them, " This was the best birthday I ever had." I think it might be the best birthday dinner I have ever been to... but then I am quite biased... I had my family here and we all had a wonderful evening!

Family photo for the Christmas card.

This is a photo of the poster my daughter and my sister-in-law did with a tour of dh's life of 60 years.

Day 20- P90X- Kenpo X

I am so tired right this minute, but I did want to get this post done. I got up early this morning.. at 5:00 a.m. I went ahead and did two days of Bible study, and then I got busy with my Kenpo X. I really do like doing this. Am I cheating if I skip the break.. only the break is not really a break.. it is jumping rope, running in place, and doing those jumping jacks on the ground and jumping in the air doing jumping jacks. Yes, I fast forward through that. But I really like the blocking, the punching, and the kicking. It is over before you know it, and you are doing the cool down. I am still not doing too well with being consistent with the Ab Ripper X. And in case you haven't noticed, I have not been posting my meals. I am not doing well.. why? because you must plan better with your meals, and right now I don't know if I am coming or going. I have spent the days I am off packing and getting my mother ready to move. Today I got her clothes ( a massive amount) moved along with boxes of dishes. I packed up more boxes. I may move them tomorrow. I just don't want them to be in the way when the movers move the furniture on Monday. I may just move her paintings and lamps tomorrow. The plumbers and the air-conditioning man is coming to do the amendment work for the buyer. I still have to call and get her cable changed to the new address. Details.. details...like I said... I am sooooooooooo tired. But I am still working to get my P90X in. And soon I will be more focused with my eating. I think I will go and take a couple of Advil. GOOD NIGHT!!!!

Day 19-P90X- Legs and Back

Yea!!! I got up early (5:15) this morning. I was doing my leg and back routine at 5:30. I am doing most of the exercises.. only a few I still struggle with. I planned to do the ab ripper X when I got home, but I had friends over for a spur of the moment dinner. I still need to get busy with the Ab ripper. I have two more days and then I start the recovery week. I did a preview of Core synergistics, and it looks really tough. I am also thinking that I might forego Tony's yoga, and do one of my yoga DVD's. The P90X yoga is just too long. I still want to blog about the birthday this weekend, but not tonight. I am on my way to a hot bath and going to bed.

Day 18- P90X- Yoga

I will talk about today before I post about the weekend. Or I guess you will be reading about the weekend first since this post will appear below the Weekend post. Okay.. this is Day 18, almost 3 weeks into this program even though I have been at it almost 4 weeks. I knew when I began that I was not going to finish in 90 days. I just hoped that I would FINISH!!! And yes.. I certainly plan to. Today began with the sluggishness that overcame me when I awoke due to ... you guessed it... lack of sleep. Last night, I don't know if it was all the excitement of the weekend, the fact that I kept dozing in the afternoon, or the pressing thoughts that crowded my mind. You see... last night I was thinking about a certain young man.. he is 22, one year older than my youngest son. Since I began having children, I have worked two days per week as a dental hygienist. My youngest has had a few child caretakers, but the last one was the one my older two had. One of the children there was this certain young man. He came to my son's birthday parties and played baseball with ds. Last August this young man decided with two of his buddies that it would be really cool to rob this person closing down a local restaurant. Long story short.. the other two robbed the woman.. shot her in the foot.. her boyfriend was with her and he had a gun.. more gunfire, and the boyfriend was dead. A robbery is now a murder. And this young man is now going to prison... sentenced for 35 years and not eligible for parole for half of that time. Oh I am not excusing him. I wanted to.. but as my co-workers admonished me.. you don't go in a robbery with a loaded gun unless you are planning on shooting someone if need be. So last night.. I just kept thinking about him and so I prayed for him, his family- mother, father, sister, aunt, grandmother.. I knew all of them. And then I just had to get up and write a note to the mom. So I know I am chasing rabbits, but I probably went to sleep around 2:00 a.m. I woke up at 6:30, and I really intended to skip the yoga and do the legs and back routine. But by the time I was dressed and ready at 7:00, I knew I would not have enough time to meet my mother at her house to take her to the doctor. I had even told her to go alone. Yes, she can drive and go alone, but my mother's problem is her hearing. She absolutely cannot hear what the doctor has to say to her, and then she is still not clear what the doctor means. So.. I skipped my workout, got to her house, went to the doctor, went by her new living facility, went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and then back to her house where I stayed ALL DAY LONG packing up boxes. I got home at 5:15. I needed to get the back part of the house cool so that I could do the workout. But boy was I hungry. I went ahead and ate my dinner (leftovers), fixed dh a big salad, washed and folded clothes, and decided somewhere along the way to do the yoga instead. The yoga is not exhausting.. it is hard.. I cannot do all the poses.. I fall sometimes.. but, I am seeing improvement. I really think that I am stretching myself further. Forget the crane.. I don't think I will ever be able to lift myself off the ground like that . I did fast forward a couple of repetitive poses, but all in all, I did the routine. Yes.. an hour and a half. I do not like doing yoga for that long. But one thing I did learn is that I do like to do it in the evening. I was not feeling as anxious to finish as I was the day I did it before work. I did not start it until close to 7:30. I finished it, and went and had a snack, soaked in a hot tub, and now here I am typing this post. So now tomorrow the plan is to do the legs and back. I am also seriously considering ordering the chinup bar. Okay, it is after 10:00, so my weekend post will have to wait..... stay tuned.

In Memory of Randy

I cannot figure out how to get this photo larger. This was taken in 1969 when we were in the 9th grade. This was me with my first boyfriend, Randy. He was the cutest boy in the whole wide world. We were on our way to a country club dance. When we were much younger... like in the fourth grade, he was so shy. He wore a baseball cap and would practically pull it down over his whole face when he had to talk to my father. It was so endearing. Last month I found out that Randy was very ill. I knew that he had a respiratory condition, but I did not know it was that serious. It had been several years since I had seen Randy. But whenever we got together we shared our fondness for each other... good friends... old friends... childhood friends. I had just read the email from a prayer chain telling of how ill Randy was, and I got a phone call from his best friend from our hometown telling me that Randy had died. I was unable to make his funeral service in Marshall. So in a way, it still seems like he is not gone. But when we have our next class reunion, it will certainly become real to me then. I will not see Randy again here on this earth. I just had to make a special post dedicated to my dear childhood friend.