Category: fun

I Love 4th of July!

4th-of-July-2-e1530630955181I’m making a habit of abandoning my blog for weeks at a time!  The 4th of July is my second favorite holiday (after Halloween), and I thoroughly enjoyed our long weekend.  I didn’t look at my phone or a computer screen the past four days unless I absolutely had to.

I originally planned to get a lot done over the weekend, but quite frankly, it was nice just hanging out and having fun with my husband and my stepson.  So I focused on that instead, and everything else will get done when I get to it.

It was hard coming back to work this morning, but a co-worker surprised me with several pots of plants from her yard.  She knows I love gardening, so when her plants needed thinned out, she potted them up for me.  I keep looking at them, picturing where to place them in our yard.  If it’s not raining when I get home, I will skip a formal workout and go dig in the dirt and get these flowers planted instead.

Just wanted to check in and say hello!  I’m going to go catch up on as many blogs as I can, and I will post more later.  Hopefully sooner than a week from now!

Playing Hooky

Earlier this week, my husband was out of town.  We spend so much time together, it’s always odd to be apart even for one night.  Yesterday we both ditched work to make up for the lost time and hang out all day together.  (For the record, ditching work was totally his idea, I swear!  He twisted my arm to make me agree to his diabolical plan…what, you don’t believe me?)

He asked me a few times if there was anything special I wanted to do, go to a movie, go shopping, etc.  I said I just wanted to hang out, and he laughed and said that is just what we would do, then.

I’d have been perfectly content never leaving the house, because I’m wild and crazy and sociable like that.  But neither of us felt like cooking dinner, so we eventually decided to go out.  We treated ourselves to an Italian restaurant that we both love, and I have enough leftovers from their huge servings to pack my lunch for two days.

I was supposed to go running last night, but I decided to stay right where I was, curled up at his side, just talking and laughing and relaxing.  I don’t regret it at all.  I will go running this evening instead.  I knew we would be back at work today, and I wanted to enjoy every minute of our day of playing hooky together.

I know a lot of couples who have to go to parties, attend events, take trips, throw money around to pretend they are having a good time together.  They drive each other nuts without distractions and bright lights and something else to entertain them, anything but each other.

I was excited to just take a day off together with him.  I asked him later if he was bored, and he said no, that he was happy just hanging out too.

One of the best compliments I’ve ever received was when one of my stepkids said she wants a relationship someday like her dad and me.  The kids were forced to witness, up close and much too personal, what happens when one person is hell-bent on destroying a marriage, making sure nothing positive or loving is left, drowning every possible happy memory in poison and jealousy and rot.  It’s so senseless and pointless.   Stupid.  Selfish.

I am glad the kids are able to see an example of a healthy, happy relationship.  They deserve to know it doesn’t have to be the way others in their lives have chosen to be.  The kids deserve to rise far above that and be happy just hanging out with someone special one day, too.

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Silly

Is this the worst possible time of year to try to lose weight, or what?  Between parties, luncheons, and gifts of candy and cookies, there is temptation up to my eyeballs everywhere I turn.  I came into work this morning and discovered a huge box of doughnuts, a plate of cookies, and a tray of peanut butter cups in the kitchen.  I had to just laugh.  For whatever reason, Christmas is synonymous with eating around here.  I just need to keep my head on straight and not get carried away.

It was hard just coming to work this morning.  My husband was in a particularly silly and goofy mood, and as soon as the alarm went off, he started melodramatically declaring that he had somehow mortally wounded his back in his sleep, he couldn’t move (all while tossing his arms about for emphasis and flair), and he needed me to stay home with him today.  To prove his point, he started moaning and fake crying…very loudly, I might add!  I tried to hush him so he wouldn’t wake up my stepson, but once he gets going, he is like a freight train on a downhill track: there’s no stopping it once he’s gained momentum!

I got out of bed despite his protests, and despite my own strong preference to stay right there, snuggled under the covers with him.  Today is going to be a good day.  I got all of my gift wrapping done last night, just in time for the kids to arrive this evening for Christmas break with us.  I’m excited for the kids and my husband to unwrap certain presents that I am pretty sure they will be happy about!

If the kids’ ever-declining grades are any indication, nothing has improved in their other home.  So I am also happy that they will be with us for a few days, where I know for sure they are safe and supervised and actually taken care of.  Hey, maybe Psycho’s new year resolution will be to finally start parenting…nah, I won’t hold my breath!

Even with so much to wrap last night, I still fit in a workout.  I skipped my planned morning workout today, but I am glad I did.  Laughing at my husband’s silliness got the day off to a happy start.  And I will have all evening, after the kids get here, to get that workout done.

Now…just need to avoid the heaping piles of calories and sugar in the kitchen for the rest of the day. 🙂

T.K.O. Challenge

TKO ChallengeA big thank you to Journey to a Healthy Me for rekindling the T.K.O. Challenge!  I had forgotten all about it until I saw her post.  I have decided to join her in this challenge, and I have added a page to my blog to track my progress.

In a nutshell, every five weeks is one round, and my goal is to lose 10 pounds in each round.  If I make it, great!  If I don’t, well, I start the next round with the ending weight from the previous round and get to start over.  So every round is a new start.

We get things moving with a 3-week kick-start, from now until September 8, during which my goal is to lose at least 5 pounds.  I like challenges and having something to keep me focused.

*Ding-ding!*  (That is the ringside bell ringing, for those with no imagination.)  Let’s get ready to rumble!

Maintain and a Loss

After a few weeks of not being terribly particular about logging my weigh-in, or weighing in at all, I stepped on the scale this past Saturday and had no idea if I had gained or lost.  Turned out I both maintained and lost: based on the last time I actually logged my weigh-in, I maintained, but based on a mid-week weigh-in for a weight loss challenge, I lost a little bit.  I didn’t gain, that’s for sure, and that was a nice change of pace!

Yesterday, my husband, my stepson, and I all had a rare day off on the same day, so we spent the afternoon and evening together.  It was a lot of fun.  When we got home, we were all starving, and I had a new recipe (BBQ chicken) I wanted to try out.  I’m still not certain if it was actually that good, or if we were just so hungry that we would eat anything we could spear with a fork, but there was nothing left on anyone’s plate.

This week I’m aiming for a 2-pound weight loss.  I need to get serious and consistent.  Logging my breakfast, maybe my lunch, then pigging out and just not logging my dinner as if that cancels out the calories has not been working, believe it or not!  I signed up for some fitness classes this week to make sure I get more workouts in.  It’s going to be a good week!

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