Happy Easter All

Had my annual physical exam last Thursday and, for the most part, it was great. Doc happy about my blood work, my blood pressure, and my weight loss. The not so special moments were when I was informed it was time for my Pap Smear. Of course, I got it out of the way especially since it's my last one for 10 years!  Topped it off with a shingles shot, which guaranteed a sore arm for the whole weekend. 

The lowlight for the visit was when the nurse measured my height and said I was just below 5'5".  What? I've been 5'5" my whole life and now I'm under??  Perhaps when I reach my goal weight I'll be 4'11"!

Just wait until you age - you'll get there!

On Saturday met up with my hair goddess Abbie for a trim and color. Added in some darker lowlights because my blonde had become akin to a walking light bulb!  As always turned out great!

Normally on the weekends I take a long walk on Saturday or Sunday. This morning I put it off while I put clean clothes away then organized my jeans, which resulted in three large black garbage bags filled with too big jeans.  I then moved on to cleaning my office/craft room because the bed was covered with bags and boxes of paint pens, fake flowers, and bits and pieces of this and that. 

Moving on, made a batch of sugar free rhubarb and strawberry jam. 

Finally pulled up my bootstraps and went for a 5.2 mile walk, including long hills. Ahhh felt much better and proud of myself for kicking my ass to get moving.

Happy Easter everyone!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Still continuing on my journey to health. Highlights include:

• Have lost 37 lbs so far!

• Have kept up with my daily walks - even in the rain!  Sometimes I have to force myself out of the house while in my head saying "I'll only take a short walk" which then turns into a longer walk. During the week I walk 30-60 minutes, 2.5 to 5 miles. On the weekend I take longer walks - 5 to 7 miles including hills.

• Along with walking, I've added in additional workouts, including weeding the front flower bed this past weekend.  Took two hours but it's nice to see the result of my efforts.

• At least 4 times per week I lift 15 lb dumbells to tone my arms. I can actually see improvement in getting rid of my batwing arms.

• The best news was my recent blood work in preparation for my annual doctors visit this week. All the results were awesome and landed me in the green "normal" zone.

• The healthy diet is starting to grow on me. I stop eating between 4pm to 5pm so I'm not going to bed with a full stomach from evening snacks.  My meals revolve around fruit,  vegetables, lean meats, and have eliminated processed foods, sugar, butter, pasta, flour, white bread, and even cream for my coffee. It's a good thing I enjoy water as my aqua intake has soared.

• This coming weekend I'm going to clean out my jeans as the majority are too baggy. I picked up some smaller jeans at Goodwill that I figured I would grow into. When I tried them on at home, they already fit! 

In a nutshell, so far so good!! Looking forward to hitting my goal where I'm no longer lying about my weight on my driver's license!  Should have started this program years ago but there is a time for everything and now is the time.

My Inspiration to
 Start My Health Journey

Walking Beast

Making steady progress with my switch to healthy eating!  Am on day 55 and have now lost 33 pounds! Have been dedicated to my walking, even when it rains!

Typically, long walks are scheduled for the weekend.  Today decided to take a different route - walked on Westside Highway next to the Cowlitz River then headed uphill to Columbia Heights.  Well, it was longer than I estimated and the hill was a bit steeper than expected.  My feet felt like they were encased in cement galoshes!  At one point I paused to take a breather and thought "what have I gotten myself into?"

In the end my determination was stronger than my will to breathe!  Once I reached the top, I knew it would be all downhill from there.  Reached home and the total mileage walked was 6.75 miles. Whoo hoo!

One thing that keeps me going is the hidden treasure that may be discovered. If I had a nickel for every single glove on the ground, I'd be set for life. Walked by a Carhartt beanie (tempted but too wet), license plate, Rubbermaid container, t-shirts, and assorted odds and ends. Filled my pockets with acorn lids and a walnut shell as these are handy for crafts.  Will even make a stop in the middle of a crosswalk if I spy change - usually pennies and nickels.  Biggest treasure found was a gold and red ring that reads "You are not one of us" inscribed around the band.

Along with potential keepers, there have been a few surprising items, including several loaves of French bread, tampons, pencils, and shoes missing their mates.

I've also thrown in some daily (mostly) dumbbell lifting in an attempt to tone my arms and get rid of the "batwings."  

Happy April to everyone and let's cross our fingers for sunny weather!

Fasting for the Win!

Decided to tackle my eating habits to cut out the sugar and late night snacking. Ran across an intermittent fasting tracker and decided to take the plunge. 

It's been a little over a month and I've eliminated 95% sugar from my diet, along with white carbs, pasta, rice, and potatoes.  I also started walking every day (weather permitting) and lifting dumbbells.  I drink more water and black coffee with no more flavored creamer.  My eating now consists of veggies and fruits, protein, very limited cheese, wheat bread on occasion, avocado, seeds, almonds, and homemade protein shakes once in awhile.

The fasting portion has been relatively easy, especially since a good portion of the fast you are sleeping.  Was doing a 16-hour fast with an 8-hour eating window but I just switched it up to 17-hour fast and 7-hour eating window. I usually eat breakfast/lunch around 11am then eat dinner between 5pm and 6pm and start my fast, which has eliminated my evening snacking.  If I want a snack during the day, I eat celery with hummus - in fact, made from scratch hummus with less salt and it turned out incredible!

And the great news is so far I've lost 23 lbs! Also feeling much better without all that sugar in my system!  I don't feel hungry and don't have the cravings for crap food.

I plan to continue with this program until I meet my goal. And of course I'll have to buy a whole new wardrobe which will make this all worth it!!

Mice and Moon and Birthday Oh My!

Received a gift certificate for Michaels for my birthday so swung by last week to browse.  Ran across some Christmas mice marked down 80% so picked up a few. Stripped them down, dug out the pile of fabric, and made them clothes.  Aren't they cute? Made hats out of acorn tops - one of them had a knob on top that looked just like a bird so I went for it.  May just swing by tomorrow to pick up a few more!

Had a little hummingbird visit who hung out on my metal flower sculpture. Sweet!

Snow came to visit last week. Thankfully it was just for a day.

Full moon was beaming like the sun the other night. 

Happy birthday to my youngest son Sam tomorrow!  He's turning the big 30 - hard to believe he's 30 already!

Mr. Thirty with his girlfriend

Kudos to son Jordan who just did his first commission sketch. He drew a tattoo for a client based upon his input. Turned out great and he made some cash!

Happy President's Day tomorrow and Happy Day Off for me!!

Check In for February

Going back to work has really interfered with my personal life, including blogging!

Christmas was great having the boys and Candy over for breakfast and gifts.

The new year brought Manny to OHSU for surgery to remove the remaining amount of tumor.  Chemo and radiation had reduced it by 95% so just a small amount to be removed. The biopsy showed negative for any cancer on the edges so he is now cancer free!  

Todd and I turned 61 on January 30th. We met up like last year at the Fiesta Bonita to celebrate, which of course included the hats!!

I spent my birthday getting my hair colored adding lowlights so it wasnt so bomb light!  My hair goddess Abbie even gifted me the service so that was a nice surprise.

Sam and his girlfriend Shelly took Manny and me to dinner the Saturday after my birthday.  We were going to the new restaurant in Castle Rock, Amauros, but the parking lot was so packed we went across the street for Mexican.  Good times.

This last week the Blue Jacket Divas met up at Riggos Latin restaurant to surprise Sally on her 80th birthday. We had a good time visiting and celebrating Sally. From the pictures, she had a good time as well.

My friend Marie asked me to repaint an old birdhouse and create a memorial rock to place on the burial spot of her pet lizard Mushi.  Painted the birdhouse using Dallas Cowboys colors as she's a cowboys freak!

For my birthday I bought myself a new dog, who I named Stella. Isn't she cute? No potty problems, no chewing, and already trained!

Have a great week everyone!  Here's a beautiful pic of the sky for you to reflect and count your blessings!