January 14th-21st (Sat. to Sat.) - WOW What Happened???

Wow I can't believe it but I went a whole week without visiting my blog and writing anything!  You would think that I had a busy week but it was just the opposite.........BORING!!  Guess that's why I didn't write, nothing much to say!

January 13th - Friday! Its Friday Friday!!

Since the weather has turned off cold (in 20s at night); I decided it was time for some of my "half homemade vegetable soup"!!  I know you're wondering why its "half homemade...........well I start off using 4 cans of Progresso (weight watchers with points on label) soup then add other stuff.  I put in tomato juice from last summer's garden, peas that were frozen last summer from garden too.  I like lots of chicken in my soup so I use frozen bags of grilled chicken strips.  


Oh yeah I found at Wal-Mart the Great Value brand of something kinda like salsa, tomatoes, onions, black beans and corn.  I had a jar of it that I bought some time ago because it looked like it would be good in my soup.  Also a couple of spoonfuls of jalapeno peppers that are pureed a bit in blender; adds spicy hot flavor!

How does it look?  I love this slow cooker (crock pot) because the container/pot sits on a hot plate type thing so when you finish and have some leftover you don't have to transfer to another container to store in the fridge; it has glass lid and you just cover it after it cools and plut in fridge!  My sweet Mother in Law, Julia, gave it to us as a wedding gift so we've been using it for 28 years!

Got my exercise for the day on the dreadmill on the back porch; boring as usual but listened to radio so that helped!  35 minutes/2 miles.  Nothing special but I did it and kept my streak going!  My weight stayed the same, 138.4 so I can't complain, I have just hit a plateau but I am hoping it will pass and maybe next week I will go down again.

That's about it............

January 10-12th - Can't Believe I FORGOT!

I thought I had only missed one day/night blogging and I now realize that it has been TWO that I missed!!  Well guess I didn't have anything to say so I forgot to say it!


Tuesday thru today/Thursday have been pretty much routine.  Tyler has gone to the Center each day.  Mark hasn't had to work, he went to physical therapy for his back on both Tuesday and Thursday/today.


I have been keeping up with my exercising but its been pretty boring.  It won't get fun or interesting until its springtime and I can get outdoors!


Tuesday & Wednesday were both the same:
2 miles on the DREADMILL on the back porch!  I was real slow on Tuesday, it took me 40 minutes.  Last night I did it faster, 33 minutes for the 2 miles.


Today I "changed it up a bit" by going to the YMCA and doing my exercise on the stationary bike there.  I went for 61 minutes and logged 13 miles even though it was on light intensity (level 1).  I didn't log it that way in my log book though, I want to keep it sorta consistent so I knew that I could walk at moderate pace on the treadmill about 3.5-3.7 miles in an hour so I just converted it in my head to 3.5 miles for the log book.  I kept the time the same; 61 minutes.


Well the weather is turning off COLD tonight and the wind is blowing like crazy!  But we can be thankful because its nothing like it was about this time last year when we had cold for weeks and a snowstorm!!


Well that's it for tonight..............
Later gators!!

January 9th - Normal Monday!

Today was just a regular Monday.  Weather was GREAT other than being overcast; it was in mid-60s and even saw the sun some today!  I say its great because I remember the cold and impending snow we were having last year at this time!


I ran some errands today, bank, Post Office, paid Georgia Power bill, then I had to go out to Barrow Crossing to Petsmart to buy Kyra some dog food.  I did my exercising there today; walked 4 miles in 67 minutes.  I am trying to increase my miles when I can. 


My next Half Marathon is in less than a month, February 4th at Tybee Island.  I can't wait; looking forward to it so I want to be ready!  I just have all my fingers and toes crossed that the weather doesn't turn bad because I won't drive down there to Cindy's house on Friday if there's ice or snow on the ground.


My weight is holding same; 138.6 lbs, at least I am not going UP!  I need to get Torrey to help me weigh Miss Kyra!  I try to get her weighed every week but we're 2 days overdue for her weigh-in.  Bet she is at least 30 lbs by now!


That's about it for tonight...........
Later gators..........

January 8th - Chiller Challenge 5K in Jefferson

Today was the Chiller Challenge 5K in Jefferson GA.  It was threatening rain off and on all day; in fact right before the start of the race at 3pm it did come a little shower but stopped before the race started.


Thanks to my friend, Sandra Alford, I was able to finish in under 40 minutes!  She paced me and kept me going and if it weren't for her I would have walked alot more than I did.  Here's a picture of the two of us approaching the Finish Line............

Not a real pretty picture of either of us; we looked kinda like drowned rats at the end of the race!  All I can say is this is better than not finishing.


After the race Sandra and I went to Waffle House up near I-85 at the Pendergrass exit.  Sure enjoyed that part!  Always the best to have down-time after a race with a good friend!


Its been a lazy and relaxing evening at home since I got home.  Mark cooked a good supper; baked chicken, baked beans, and potatoes.  I had half of my chef salad from the Waffle House to finish eating plus I added a half of piece of chicken breast.  YUMMMMM........so good!


Oh my weight held its own this morning at 138.6 lbs; sure am happy about staying in 138 range and not going back up!  Of course for my exercise today I got 3.1 miles at the 5K race.


Adios amigos, that's it for tonight!!

January 7th - Rain is on the way!

Today was kinda overcast but still warm, low 60s and the thunder and lightning came tonight!  Kinda weird for wintertime!  I couldn't get Kyra to use the bathroom for me outside; everytime she started to do her "business" the thunder would rumble and she would run scared to death!


I didn't make it to Anne Patrick's Wonderful Days 5K race in Marietta today.  Mark had to take his Mother to Julie's Dad's funeral and they were leaving before noon so I was afraid I couldn't get back from Marietta in time.  Tomorrow/Sunday there is a race in Jefferson that I am planning to attend; hope nothing happens to change those plans!


Today was a pretty lazy day.  I caught up on emails and Facebook then caught up on newspapers I had been collecting on the back porch.  I kinda feel guilty for doing pretty much nothing.  I vacuumed the back porch and took the dogs out and tried to walk them around the yard to exercise the "wild child" Kyra but she was more interested in tormenting Riley & Pookie and keeping them from enjoying their time outside.


I did finally get around to walking on the treadmill, 2 miles in 34 minutes.  Not much to brag about but at least I did it; that makes 7 days in a row now toward the 100 Day Challenge.  I think last year when I tried the Challenge, I only lasted 4-5 days!  I am hoping to make it this time!!


Its supposed to rain tomorrow right before the race for a couple of hours, 40% chance, then at 3pm when race starts the chance of rain drops to 20% so I am hoping that it doesn't rain during the race but even if it does, I can handle it because the temperature is supposed to be 60-62 degrees.


Oh well, I will report on all this tomorrow.  Sandra Alford is supposed to be coming to do the race with me. I am hoping I can keep up with her if she can run it.  She has had a bum knee since doing Brasstown Bald in December.  I'm hoping we both can do well in the race!!


Later gators............

January 6th - Another Good Weather Day!

Today's weather was just gorgeous for WINTERtime!!  The dogs spent lots of time outdoors so they were all tuckered out tonight which means less fighting and aggravating each other.  Well 90% of the aggravating behavior is on Kyra's part, unfortunately!  I have to give her some credit, she had a "better behavior day" today than yesterday.  It was pretty bad yesterday; very stressful for me!


Today I did 3 miles on the DREADmill on the backporch in 52 minutes.  I know I need to kick it up and go faster but its so boring and I do so much better when I am outside especially when I am in a race.


I got my Runner's Log Book I ordered from Amazon today so I was able to catch it up from beginning of January to now.  Actually, I started it on New Year's Eve when I did the Flashlight 5K in Lawrenceville.

I know this picture isn't the best in the world but I made it in dark room with my iPhone but it gives you an idea of what a full page looks like filled in.  The red is where I am recording my weigh also.  My friend, Sandra Alford has used this log book for years so I decided to try one this year and see how I like it.  I am hoping it keeps me motivated to keep "moving"!

Here is the logo from an app I use on my iPhone.  It will calculate my calories from food that I log that I eat and I can work to stay under each day.  Lose It is a great program/app and I have been lax about using it lately but I plan to start again REAL SOON!!

I did a weigh-in this morning and was down to 138.2 lbs!!! That's the lowest I have been in a long long time.  I am down 2.8 lbs since Sunday January 1st!  I might not stay 138 right now; I figure I will bounce up and down a few days before I stick with 138 but that's okay!

This is me doing my power walking thing!  Mark says I walk like I am going to a fire; he tells me to slow down when we go somewhere together.

Later gators...........more tomorrow/Saturday and maybe I will have something interesting to say!