What to do...

I've decided I need to do one of two things. I either need to get myself to the gym 4 days a week, every week, or I need to just usemy treadmill at home. It makes no sense to keep the gym membership if I can't manage to get myself there early enough in the morning.

Even though I have the treadmill I find it harder to use it than to get to the gym. Imagine that. It's not because I don't want to, it's because I get distracted. The treadmill is in the laundry room which is in the basement. So, I think, "Well, since I'm going down there I should throw in a load of laundry. So, let me gather laundry from upstairs. Oh, wait, I have to put these other clothes away first. Now, let's take these downstairs. Hmm, clothes are in the washer and dryer already. Gotta' fold the clothes in the dryer first, then switch the clothes before I can put a new load in to wash." 45 minutes later it's too late to get on the treadmill for more than 2 minutes, because then I have to start dinner or it's time for my hubby to get ready for work.

At least not going to the gym can be attributed to not being able to stop my bionic arms and not to doing chores.

So, with 4 weekdays left this week, I have to go. Every. Single. Day. Call me. Hold me to it. Even on Thursday (our 9th wedding anniversary) and Friday (the 4th of July). I have to just GO!

Bionic Arms & Mutant Zucchini

I apparently have arms with a mind of their own. They do things, like turn off the alarm at 5:30am, without me ever knowing it. Honestly! It's happened twice this week. This morning and on Tuesday...I wake up, the alarm is off and it's already past 6am. Yes, the alarm really was set, and no, my hubby didn't shut it off. It's my bionic arms, I tell you. Bionic arms....who knew?

So, since my bionic arms decided I was not going to the gym this morning I've decided to share some pictures of our flourishing garden. About a month ago (almost exactly to the day) we dug up a 1/4 of the yard and put in a vegetable garden. The lettuce seeds never took and there's only 1 lonely, tiny little carrot plant growing. However, as you can see from the pictures below the tomato plants are gigantic, the zucchini plant is surely a mutant, the eggplants are flowering and the peppers, well, they're a little droopy, but growing nonetheless.

The garden in May...


The garden today...


We even have over a dozen small tomatoes growing and tons more flowers on the plants.



The zucchini plant really is enormous and there are about 8 zucchini currently growing with another 6 or so getting ready to start. It's fun to watch. Weeding isn't bad either, because the smell of the fresh tomato plants is to die for - YUM!

Well, my bionic arms and I are off...have a good day!

The bug

My sister-in-law was right...I have caught the exercising bug. I was lamenting that with the very real possibility of soon having to work from 4:45pm-12am I would probably have to give up going to the gym. Where would I find an hour to go during the day? She said she thought I'd figure something out, because I'm hooked. She was right. Coincidentally she also said my legs were getting slimmer and since she was right about the gym bug thing, I'm going to take her word on the thinner thing too. I love my sister-in-law. =)

I spent an hour at the gym this morning and was still home by 6:45. It was an early morning. I realized though that I like going in the morning. There is comfort in seeing the same people day after day and being able to spot the "newbies" in the morning crowd.

And some exciting news...I've lost a few more pounds! Wahoo! I've been waiting to see the scale dip down to this new number for some time, and it's actually just 4 ounces away from the number below it. That's exciting! It also makes me want to throw away the rest of the chocolate cupcakes sitting in a pan out on the kitchen counter.

Well, it's a great day for the park in the morning and a swim in the afternoon. Time to corral the kids and get going...

Miscellaneous Monday

I worked until the wee hours on Friday and Saturday nights, so the gym was certainly not in the early morning cards this weekend. This morning was another no-can-do, because I literally had nothing to wear. Laundry is overdue....way overdue. In fact, I think by the day's end I may have exceeded the world record for number of loads of laundry done in one day. There really is that much.

So, this weekend we visited with family from Texas and the boys got to meet their cousins. They all seemed to have a good time. Of course, the older two separated from the younger two and we got to see a new dynamic emerge. Interesting. Oh, and sister-in-law from Fingergate 2008, did you know the older one has been hiding in the small attic part of the room (and apparently there's a small hole for mice?!)? My oldest one told me about it this morning....

I made sure I told just about everyone I saw this weekend at work that I wanted to take the CNA class. Yeah, I know, I said I didn't want to, but it's going to be my best option at this point. I can work at night after my hubby comes home and it pays better than Target or Walmart. Besides, I love the residents. Love, love, love them. And honestly, I know it's a lot of hard, messy work being a CNA, but there's nothing I wouldn't do to help them. So, I'm going to take the class. Now, hopefully, they'll find an instructor and offer a class soon! I've also been thinking about nursing...we'll see...

Well, it's off to switch some laundry so I have something to wear to the gym tomorrow morning. Have a fantastic Monday!

(Oh, here's the blog I started for my dad for Father's Day. You'll pickup some real gems of wisdom from this one!)

I Need Some Coffee...

I spent an hour at the gym this morning. 5 minutes stretching, 10 minutes on abs, 25 minutes on resistance and 20 minutes on cardio. I had the treadmill inclined, so it was "fun" to really work those muscles that don't normally get challenged too much. It actually did feel good to workout that long, especially since I knew my youngest son was going to be in rare form today.

In fact, I might even sneak out to the gym later tonight just to help work off the stress of that "rare form".

There were a few new people there this morning working out. So, I am officially not the largest person there anymore. I don't think I ever was, but now I am definitely not. I hope they stick with it. It will be like watching The Biggest Loser live.

Speaking of The Biggest Loser, why don't they have something like that for those of us who want to lose 30 pounds? I may not weigh 400 pounds, but I sure would like to be on the show. Unfortunately, I'm not big enough. How messed up is that?

Ah, well. See you tomorrow.

Recovering Night Owl

I am, surprisingly, not as tired as I thought I would be this morning. Got home at 12:20am, but didn't get to bed until 1. The dog didn't bark or move the entire time I was downstairs. In fact, I could hear him snoring until my feet hit the squeaky stairs. Doesn't give me much faith in his Kujo-esque abilities to stave off intruders.

There was no way I was going to get up at 5:45 to go to the gym. I'm not a "sleep until noon" kind of girl, but I definitely need more than 4 hours and 45 minutes of sleep. Who doesn't?

As it seems to be shaping up to be one heck of a day, I think I might drag the kids for a walk around the neighborhood. They need to get out and I need them to walk off some energy. And I need to work off the small bag of animal crackers I was munching on at 11 o'clock last night! =)

Let the observation begin!

So, I started my stalking, er, trainer observation today. I hopped on the treadmill at 6am and watched as people went from machine to machine. Honestly, it was pretty much a no brainer. There were only a couple of machines that I haven't been doing that I think I'll add to my routine.

I had to hop off the treadmill after 20 minutes though, because I was wearing a workout skirt/shorts thingy that was just way uncomfortable. I thought my thighs were going to just chafe their way thin. Ugh. Maybe I should have followed the washing directions and NOT dried it in the dryer. Good to know for next time.

I have to work tonight....5-12. So, I'm pretty sure I will not be going to the gym tomorrow morning. Wish me happy days of coffee and maybe...a donut! ;)

No CNA for me!

I've been thinking about getting certified as a CNA so I can pick up some extra hours at the nursing home where I work as the receptionist. This morning I changed my mind.

My youngest son's bandage fell off and I had to remove the stuck, dried bloody gauze from his cut. I almost passed out. He was fine with it.

Yep, I'm thinking CNA, Nursing, etc. would not be a good choice for me. Maybe cashier at Target would work better.

Gym Cheapskate

I've lost a few more pounds. It's really not a surprise with everything that's been going on outside of exercising. I'm still very far away from the weight I'd like to be at, but my body seems to want to hang on to the pounds and I seem to want to hang on to the Thin Mints. Go figure.

So, this morning, after running through a quick upper body resistance circuit to get rid of my Jell-O arms, I got to thinking about getting a personal trainer again. It's expensive and you have to sign a contract for 18 months. 18 half-hour visits for forty some dollars per visit...once a month. That's pretty high for my budget. I like using the machines and find that I'm not really comfortable dabbling in the free weight section. Better results from free weights, but if I don't feel comfortable being there I'm just not going to do it. I'm stubborn like that.

What's a girl to do. Stalk, er, covertly observe other gym members that is. I've been noticing certain people who do employ a personal trainer and if I can just watch their routines then I'll copy them. Lordy, I'm a cheapskate at the gym.

So, here's my plan. The treadmills look out over the rest of the gym, so starting on Monday I'm going to start observing the circuit that a couple of the people who are there regularly do while walking on the treadmill. I'll watch and then when I leave I'll jot it down in a notebook in the car. I know, it sounds creepy to be watching someone workout, but I'm not really watching them. I'm mentally recording the machines that they use, so that I can use them too. Without having to spend money that I don't have. Tricky.

I used to go to a gym in Phoenix where the personal trainers met with you once a month and wrote down a routine for you to follow. There was no extra charge (although it was slightly more expensive...about $10 more a month) and even if you just grabbed them to ask a quick question during the month they never acted like you were stealing their time. I liked that. I think that if this gym did the same thing their member retention would be higher. Better support yields better results which yields happier, more motivated members. So, if you're from the gym I go to...HINT, HINT, HINT!

Update on the Kiddos

My youngest son's visit to the doctor went well. His daddy came home from work and took him - thank you, wonderful husband of mine. No fractures of the finger, optimism that the nail will grow back, and no pain. He has a really high pain tolerance, so if he says something hurts you just know it hurts bad! No pain today though.

He still has to wear his finger splint for "anytime he's going to be active." Which in his case is 24/7. No swimming for 2 weeks and a return check-up next Thursday morning.

My oldest son's doctor's visit was...okay. My suspicions of the marks being cafe-au-lait spots was confirmed. As was my concern that there are some pretty scary things associated with cafe-au-lait spots. Especially the size and number of them that he has (8). The doctor advised me not to worry at this point (Ha!) and that we'd just keep an eye on them until his next well-check in November. More info. on Neurofibromastosis can be found HERE. He has no other symptoms, so who knows, maybe they're just spots.

So, that was our exciting morning. Much more excitement like this and I'm going to either own stock in a cookie company or be thin as a rail. Anyone know of a cookie diet??

Wild Wednesday

I had planned to tell you all about my gym jaunt yesterday morning when I got home, but things went awry.

My youngest son had decided to slam his bedroom door yesterday morning while I was at the gym and ended up slamming his 4 year old finger soundly in the heavy wooden door. After convincing him that I really did need to see what was under the bandaid that his daddy had put on, it was clear that an ER trip was on tap for the day. He orignally wanted me to go with him, but changed his mind at the last moment and asked his dad to go instead. Which, my husband assures me, was a good thing. His fingernail fell out and the doctor had to put it back in. Twice...because he moved his hand the first time. My husband said the screaming was unbearrable. It makes me cringe and shudder just thinking about how much it must have hurt. Oh, and to numb it they gave him two shots...in his finger. ugh. IF his nail starts to grow again that will be the ideal, but there's a very real chance that his nail may not grow, in which case, he will never have a nail on his finger.

So, they got home around noon and I zoomed out to pick up my nieces who were spending the afternoon with us after they got done their last day of school. My oldest son and youngest niece spent about 2 hours in the pool and had a blast.

Then when my son was getting out of the pool he grabbed onto the rail of the ladder and there was a bug of some sort that decided to bite him. Poor kid screamed bloody murder. I got him some Benadryl and ice and helped him get changed into his clothes. Of course, when I helped him get changed I noticed these weird semi-dark patches on his chest, back, arm and the back of his neck. Almost like the melasma from the mask of pregnancy, but of course, not on the face nor resulting from pregnancy. My nieces' mom came to pick them up and she looked at them too, but had the same "huh" reaction that we had. Very weird and not there before he went swimming.

Being the "neurotic freak" (thank you for the term of endearment, darling husband *grin*) that I am, I started looking up melasma on the internet. Melasma led to cafe-au-lait marks which led to neurofibromatosis (sp?) and a bunch of other scary diseases. So, this morning I have to call the family doctor to get my oldest in for his weird spots and to schedule a 6 month check-up for the baby, and then I have to call the orthopaedist for my youngest son to make sure his finger wasn't fractured on the growth plate below the nail.

So, keep us all in your prayers today please. It's gonna be a doozy.

Monday in a Nutshell

I almost cried when I pulled up to the gym this morning at 6am (wahoo!). As I got out of the car I realized that I had brought the wrong keys and that my little check-in card thingy was on the other set. Thankfully, it was the nice morning guy at the desk and when I told him, he said, "Oh my gosh, I know you, go! You're my smiley girl!" Go me for being memorable! And for being called a "girl"! Go me!

I really wanted to work on the weight machines today, since I figure I've sweat off a small child just by being in a house with very little air conditioning all weekend. I also was inspired to really focus on my arms, because my youngest son, God bless him, came up to me yesterday and jiggled my arm while saying, "Look, Mom! It's like Jell-O!" Hmm.

Well, let me just tell you, no one will be able to comment on my jiggly arms anymore this Summer! No, sirree! 'Cause I'm hiding all of those tank top tops and I'm going to wear long sleeves all summer, that's why! Or maybe just long short sleeves. But definitely no tank tops. Jell-O. Darn it. I hate Jell-O.

Apparently, my kids were on a brutally honest trend these last 24 hours, because my oldest son was asking my age and he said, "I liked it better last year when you were XX. You were nicer then. Now that you're XX, you're still sort of nice, but you were nicer before." This while we're driving home with a pool in the back of the van and he's wearing his new swimming mask and snorkel. Hmm.

Going to the gym twice in one day doesn't sound like that bad of an idea right now.

Hot, Hot, Hot

The sign outside of Friendly's said "100". 100 degrees that is. It's June 7th. In Pennsylvania. I thought we'd seen the last of 100 degree days in June when we moved from Phoenix. Apparently not.

So, what's a family to do in 100 degree weather when gas prices are $4.19 and heating oil is almost $4.75 and the air conditioners are still tucked away in the attic? Can you say, "Free Ice Cream Day at Friendly's?" Yummy! I felt a pang of guilt as I hurriedly consumed my single scoop (that looked like a double) of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (the green kind) in a sugar cone, because Friendly's is across the street from the gym. Ironic, isn't it? Whoever planned that one was a smart, smart corporate guru.

I think I've sweat more today just from grocery shopping, mopping the floor and chasing the kids around than I ever have at the gym. At this rate I'll look like Kate Moss by the end of the heat wave on Monday.

Stay cool!

Summery Look - Like It or Leave It?

So what do you think of the new layout and colors? Let me know! Email me at GymMama at GymMama dot net!

At Last!

Can you hear that? It's the sweet, sweet sigh of relief this morning. I actually made it out of the house at 5:50 and stayed at the gym for a good 45 minutes. And it felt so, so wonderful.

When I came home my husband even asked, "Feel better?" My enthusiastic "absolutely" was a welcome relief to all of us. Who knew I needed this as much as I do?

So, I ran and walked on the treadmill and did some ab work. Yes, that's right...I ran. And no one was chasing me. And there was no gun being held to my head. Yep, a banner day at the gym. Oh...and I sweat. Gross, but much needed. Did I mention I devoured almost an entire box of frozen Thin Mints in the last two days? Probably not something I should mention, because I know I'll be hearing about it.

I told my hubby I was an emotional eater on Monday night, and after polishing off almost an entire sleeve of Thin Mints he stared at me in shock and asked, "Good Lord, woman, what kind of emotions make you eat an entire sleeve of Thin Mints?!" Not the whole sleeve. There were 5 left. ;)

Thwarted Again

Frustration has been running high these days. You see, going to the gym is not really about going to the gym. It's not about the treadmill or about telling stories when I get home.

It's about getting out of the house by myself to do something for myself.

And when that doesn't happen...for one frustrating reason or another...it makes the day much harder to get through. Especially when there are a hundred other things I'm worried about, stressed over, or just plain sick to my stomach about. So, going is not really an option. I need it.

If I could afford to have the kids go to the play area every day I would. But that's $30 extra a month. And that I can't afford. So, whether the baby is going to scream for an hour or the boys are going to fool around in their room as soon as I wake up....I don't really care. If I don't get time for myself, especially with all that's going on, it's not going to be pretty.

Just thought you should know.