Working Out Isn’t Working Out…

So I have been working out and eating healthier for almost a year now. 

It hasn’t been easy and most of the time instead of getting soup like I should, I get the chicken fingers and fries like usual, BUT I am working out every day.  At first I just watched what I ate, and lost A LOT of weight the first month. 

Then I added in exercising and the weight just flew off.  Now I am in a plateau of weight loss.  After all that hard work I am now stuck at this stupid weight!  It’s annoying and frustrating and makes me not want to do anything else but sit on my couch, surrounded by chicken fingers and curly fries with a bucket of ketchup, watching my favorite shows for a whole month nonstop.  But since I can’t do that due to I would probably have a heart attack, I am still working out and trying to eat healthier. 

Since starting my journey, I have joined a weight loss website, and I have made a ton of amazing friends from around the world who have helped me through my journey and they are now putting up with me and my stupid plateau.  The website is free and very simple to use and lose weight with (All HUGE pluses in my book).  So now since I have been stuck at this plateau for a few months I plan on telling you about how my work outs haven’t/have been working out and my experiences with the different trainers I have used. 

The first DVD trainer I ever used was Heather*.  Heather is bubbly and fun.  She smiles and does the whole workout with you.  She walks 5 miles and after an hour you have completed them all.  That’s right ladies and gentlemen I walk 5 miles in an hour and love it!  I look forward to turning her DVD on and starting my relaxing, but fast paced, walk.  I just walk around the living room while doing the steps she tells me to do.  This means I don’t have to go out in the big wide scary world full of bugs and allergies that will make me sick or make me scream (sick = allergies, scream = bugs).  After the walk is over your legs feel all twitchy, but firm.  Your body is all sweaty, but you feel great.  You drink about 10 gallons of water (sarcasm), but it is refreshing and gladly drank.  Heather is amazing, it’s such a simple routine but she makes it fun and something you look forward too.  Heather encourages you to only walk one mile if you can’t do all 5, because any workout is better then no workout. 

Bella stars at me from her pillow while I do this.  I have no worries of her jumping on me or wanting me to play with her because I am not down on her level.  With Heather, and eating healthier, I lost 25lbs.  BUT with Heather I also felt like after a few months I wasn’t getting anywhere (hence the plateau). 

The second DVD trainer I have used is Sara*.  I just started Sara's DVD in early April, this was the first time doing any other workout DVD other then Heathers.  Sara is someone who pushes you to the extreme, but never does the whole workout with you.  She yells at you, and tells you she knows you are hurting but to shove through it.  She also tells you that pain is normal (umm what?) and that it will get easier each day.  She also doesn’t let you take any breaks.  It’s only a 20 minute workout so you have to take each workout to the extreme to get results.  There are different levels to the workout and each one gets harder and harder.  Through working out with Sara I lost 8 inches from my waist and hips and I felt my thighs toning up.  My arms also felt stronger.  I started Sara’s DVD during my plateau to try and break it.  During her workouts I can barely breathe and all I want to do is cry out at her.  I curse her and do the workouts out of hatred and stomp my feet and put more movement behind everything she asks us to do because I am so mad at what she wants me to do and I feel like I just can’t do it. 

She makes you do punches in the air while doing squats and that is one of my favorite exercise because while doing that move I imagine punching her in the face (I know really horrible here, but while you do this workout this is how you feel).  After the workout, all I can do is sit down and breath and hope I don’t get sick.  Then I can’t do anything else the rest of the night but watch tv and wait for bed. 

During the workouts, Bella, thinks I am playing with her.  She has jumped on my back when I was doing push ups, which made me fall flat on my face.  She has jumped on me while I was doing lunges which made me fall backwards.  When I go on the ground to work on the abs, she has pounced on my stomach with her duck in her mouth to try and get me to play. 

I never took my measurements with Heather, so I don’t know about that, but I did lose a lot of weight.  With Sara it gave me a new thing to do for a month, and I lost a lot of inches.  Bebe has been great through this whole thing with me.  He encourages me to eat in more (which I usually don’t), he tells me how great I am doing by working out, and he tries to keep Bella away from me while I am working out to my DVDs.  Overall this year has been a great success in my health and lifestyle.  

I have found out that with Sara it just isn’t working out.  I saw results, but overall I don’t like feeling angry at the trainer or hating having to go and workout for that day.  So I am breaking up with Sara and going back to Heather.  I feel like I cheated on Heather for a full month and I want her back.  I may pick a Sara DVD up again after a few more pounds are lost, and when I feel up to the challenge.  But for the moment I am missing my walks.

*All names of trainers have been changed since they are very well known, but you should be able to figure out who I am talking about just by the way I describe them

The Cell Phone

It was a wonderful Friday morning, a bright sunny day outside.  I was suppose to go to my parents house after work, and decided to call my mom after Bebe asked me to come home first so we could have supper together. 

I parked my car in the lot outside of my work and called my mom on the cell.  My phone has been with me for over 2 years…it does everything for me!  We get lost, I bring out my phone; we need a random fact about life, I bring out my phone; I need to text you a funny joke, I bring out my phone; I need to call you, oh yes, that handy dandy phone is put to use.  I touched my moms cell phone in my address book (it’s a touch screen) and it dialed her number.  This is when a great day turns horribly bad…the phone never rang, it just went to a noise.  The noise sounded like someone breathing heavily, and then mixed a garbled undertone of whispered nonsense, which would then return to the heavy breathing.  What in the world is this?!?

At first I thought, my mom must have answered with her purse (like a purse dial aka as a butt dial or pocket dial but instead of a dial it was answering).  So I waited a few more minutes for my mom to say something, and then I said “Mom?”  Then it went from the heavy breathing to a really loud and mad sounding garbled undertone of yelling nonsense.  Oh My Gosh I made it angry!

I had two options…(trying to think clearly as the noise on the other end went from being mad to whispering nonsense to heavy breathing on the other line)…

A.) I could rush in and tell my coworkers to listen in because it was just too freaky!

B.) Hang up and call my mom again and hope whatever was on the line now didn’t pick up again.

I went for option B, because I didn’t want to rush in and ask them all to listen in and the thing get really mad or for it to just shut up and then I look crazy.  And also because I needed to talk with my mom.

I dialed my mom again and it rang and she picked up.  I asked her if she had heard the noise too, and she said she had.  I asked her if she had called out my name to see if it was me and if it had gotten angry.  She had called out my name, but the noise did not get angry…so the thing must have had mommy issues. 

When I got off the phone with my mom and went inside to work I told everyone in my office about it…lets just say they all thought I was going to be abducted and because they knew me, they too, were going to be abducted as well.  It was aliens, a possessed phone, or an airplane mixing up the signals.

I made it through the weekend, and nothing happened…I am hoping it was just a misplaced signal…but it was weird and that misplaced signal had real mommy issues. 

Bella’s New Duck

I bought Bella a duck last year.  It is a plush stuffed toy duck and it squawks whenever you squeeze it. Anyway she loves it.  She picks that toy over any other toy that might be around.  You put your arms out for her to come and cuddle with you, and she will run to get her duck because the duck just can’t be left out of a good hug, now can it? 

After a whole year of her tugging it around everywhere she went (it’s like a security blanket) Bebe and I finally decided it had to go.  It went from a bright shade of brown and white to a nasty shade of gray over this time period and it had a hole near the neck where Bella held it most often.  But Bella can’t go a day without her Duck.  She goes crazy when she can’t find it, or she just gets depressed and sleeps all day (well she does that anyway, but when she can’t find her duck she has a very sad expression on her face when she sleeps and she has nightmares where she is running away from something…or maybe running to something…like her duck). 

She left it downstairs one day and spent all day looking through every room trying to locate it, and finally when I went downstairs to do laundry and she followed me and came upon it, you would have thought it was the best day in the whole world for her.  She jumped on it, and ran up and down the stairs with it in her mouth until I came upstairs to play with her and the duck.  So there was no way of getting rid of the duck totally.

So I looked everywhere to try and find a replacement duck…but it needed to be the same type of duck and it had to make the same kind of noise.  I got her a squirrel toy, and she didn’t play with it much, my mom got her a raccoon, and she played with it only because I forgot to bring her duck with us and then she tore the raccoon up, my mom bought her a skunk and Bella likes it, but she rarely plays with it she always picks her duck over it.  I have bought her bones and other toys and she never touches them.  The duck was nowhere to be found…it wasn’t at the original store anymore, except for in a much smaller size, it wasn’t at any pet stores, and it wasn’t at the hardware stores.  So where was I suppose to go?  THE INTERNET!  I got online and put in Dog Duck Toy, and BAM! There it was!  So I ordered it (spent $13 on this little toy) and it was on its way! 

When the new toy finally came, you would think she would be all pleased and forget about the old duck.  WRONG!  She now plays with both the old duck and the new duck.  She gets confused about which one she should play with so we get to play with both.  One duck is in her mouth, the other duck she is kicking along with her feet towards you.  I doubt we are ever going to get rid of the old duck now. 

Three things I did, and three things I did not do, over the Christmas holiday.

Three things I did Not Do:

I did not get to watch A Christmas Story.  I know I said I would, but every time it was one, I got distracted or someone wanted my attention (more on this in the Three things I did do section). So I still don’t know why the lamp is shaped like a leg or why a little boy would put his tongue on a pole in the middle of winter.

I did not blog after Christmas…I know I was a horrible horrible blogger…I just haven’t had the time, but I promise to make it up to you all (you’ll understand why in the Three things I did do Section).

I did not get sick! YAY! Which is a huge achievement for me…usually every Christmas I am either sick, or coming down with something.  This Holiday season I was way too busy to be sick.

Three things I did do:

I did say “Yes” to Bebe when he asked me to Marry Him.  There now can you see why I have been busy. He asked me Christmas eve (that story to come later) it was perfect and wonderful.  That evening while we were at his Grandpas house A Christmas Story was on, and I wanted to watch it, but I was busy talking with everyone about the wedding planning.  Then Christmas Day when it was one we were at my families Christmas and we had the same problem.  So still I have never seen A Christmas Story all the way through, but I don’t really think you can blame me on this one…blame Bebe.

I did plan a wedding.  Basically I had two weeks after Bebe asked me until my work started up again.  So in those two weeks I did nothing but research places, buy things, and plan out everything (well as much as I could so I wouldn’t have to worry about so much when I went back to work).  It was a really rough two first weeks of engagement.  But I figure if Bebe can stick with me through those first two weeks we will be good together for life together. 

I did get to spend a lot of quality time with my family and my future in-laws.  That is one of my favorite things about the Holiday season.  With all the planning and organizing and everything I spent a lot of time being with everyone who is involved.  I had a wonderful time being with everyone and spending a wonderful holiday with them all.

I apologize for my absenteeism, but I will be posting more regularly now that more things are finished and my worries (remember I am a worry wart) are put to rest (well some of them are).  Happy Dance is back to Dancing Happy :)

Just what I wished for!!!

What it did at my house Christmas Eve Day/Night! I was so excited to wake up and see it.  Isn't it pretty?  I always dream of a white Christmas, and this year I got my wish!

P.S. That tree is the same tree where Bella dug up the squirrel...fun times.



I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday!

The Green Drink

So my moms side of the family has many Christmas traditions, but the one that is by far the best and most honored tradition is our Grasshoppers! 

Now we don’t spend our summers out in the fields jumping after the little buggers to freeze and eat on Christmas, no this is a drink.  Though, I think, the later would be a very interesting thing to explain to the neighbors.  This is a drink that is made of different liquors and ice cream.

This drink comes two ways A.) Leaded (alcohol, though not very much alcohol at all) B.) Unleaded (no alcohol).  When I was very little, my grandma only knew how to make it leaded…so that made for some VERY fun Christmas Day evenings! I was giving just the smallest amount and then I would fall asleep.  Then when I reached the age of five, she learned how to make it unleaded, and that was what I was given until I reached 21. 

The drink is a very dark bright green when it is Leaded and a very light bright green when it is unleaded, so no tricking anyone into thinking you had one when you really had the other. 

This drink has become infamous in my family, and with some of my friends.  Ryno comes over for Christmas ever year, and somehow always manages to come in the evening, just in time for a Grasshopper, or two.  Da’Da’ has had one, and went back for seconds.  Bebe has had one…and I don’t really know his opinion on it, at that point the was pretty full from the meal that is searved all day on Christmas day at my house, so he was probably too full to really enjoy it.  My two youngest cousins, on that side, though, make the drink even more special for me ever year.

My oldest youngest cousin, Andrea I remembered drinking all of her unleaded and always asking my grandma for more.  My youngest youngest cousin, Andreas sister Karney, also came to love the drink.  Every Christmas Day evening the ask over and over and over again whether or not the Grasshoppers were going to be made soon.  That seems to do the drink to bring my grandma into action.  Once the drinks are done they sprint into the kitchen and grab there unleaded cups and head into the living room holding the cup with both hands, face beaming, teeth showing, and eyes bright and wide staring intently at the drink.  The kids (and I) almost always get served first, and we almost always go back for seconds.  You could be stuffed and if you ate/drank another morsel your body would combust and you would die a horrible death and I think we all would still have a Grasshopper.  You just can’t turn these things down!

Karney, Andrea, and I always sit at the “kiddies” table and watch TV - usually a cartoon Christmas special - and tell stories and jokes while the “adults” are sitting in the dinning room talking about “adult” things.  We laugh and talk and drink our drinks.  In about the time it takes for you to get a brain freeze, are drinks are down and we are ready to go back for more.

This to me makes Christmas officially awesome.  It is this truly bonding experience of us having our families traditional drink, getting a brain freeze at the exact same time together, and talking about goofy things that have no relevant meaning to life other then we think it is awesome and funny.  It helps make our family stronger and brings us together every year.  It makes the whole day of traveling, stressing about whether or not someone is going to like your gift that you got them, the weather conditions, etc…all fade away into things not important and puts the things that are important like family and friends totally in perspective. 

I am so happy my family hasn’t gotten rid of this tradition, I know if it ever came to that, I would step in and make it…but then again that might not turn out well…we all know how well I do in the kitchen.  So if it ever does come to that, I know with the love this drink has brought to my family and friends at least my cousins, and probably Ryno, would be there to help me not ruin the drink that year and still continue on with it.

Country Christmas

Out in the country there is this little farm house and an older gentleman who loved Christmas.  Every year he would put up this huge display all around his front yard, his side yard, on the barn, near the silos, and through the surrounding fields.

It was a Christmas Tradition for families in my town to go out the mile or so outside of town to this farm and see the lights every year.  It was gorgeous and really got you in the Christmas sprit.  My sister started taking me when she first got her license and we would slowly drive through the farm yard and see all the lights, pointing at the ones we loved, and ohhing and awwing over everything. 

When she moved and I got my license I started taking my youngest cousins, Bria and Brad,  (same ones from the Annual Wrapping Paper Ball Fight post) to see the light display.  We would blast Christmas music and sing along and once we got out to the farm we would slowly go through the display.  This became an annual thing before we went to the church for the candle light service and before our Wrapping Paper Ball Fights. 

Every year it was something we looked forward too, and couldn’t wait to bust out of the house and see it again.  The display never really changed, things were placed in the same place, and I don’t think this farmer ever added new lights (since it was already really big) but we didn’t care, it was wonderful to go and see.  My small town usually has snow on Christmas eve, and usually the power goes out right around the time for the candle light service in my church there (very cool if I do say so for our service all by candle light) but something that my cousins and I would have to beat before it would go out so we could see the display in the country. 

Then sometime one year the farmer passed away, it was in our local newspaper about weather or not the display would be shown one last time, since the farmer passed before Christmas time.  His family wrote in that they would put it up one last time and then the farm would not have it again.  Once I heard this, it was my main goal that Christmas.  My friends and I went out there and saw the lights, my mom and I went out there and saw the lights, and my cousins and I were out there Christmas eve to see the lights before that candle light service.

It was amazingly beautiful and the image of  the picture perfect light display will always be a photograph in my mind.  It was Christmas card perfect.  It was bittersweet, the last drive through with my cousins.  It was sad to break it to them, that this display would not be there ever again, but it only made that one last trip even more special. 

Since then I have seen light displays at houses that would blow that farm out of this world, but it doesn’t matter, that light display on that farm will always take the gold medal in my heart for some of the great Christmas memories of mine.



Now my horrible picture that does no justice to what the farm really looked like, but it was bright and gorgeous and just very Christmasy! :) (There were a lot more light displays and Christmas objects throughout the farm land)