Awesome sauce.  Give it a watch if you liked Star Trek the Next Generation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiSn2JuDQSc

Weakling

Planking doesn't feel good.  It shows me how weak I really am.  Lame.  OH well, day 2.

Plank?

I haven't walked.  I do stairs steps when I am on duty in the mornings sitting out by the corner of the road. NO ONE CROSSES IN MY CROSSWALK!  Why do they even have that duty?  Anywho, that leaves me with 20-25 minutes of stepping up and down on the curb three times a week.  Figured I would give this Plank thing a shot. Anybody try this one? Doesn't eat a lot of time and maybe it will help me get out of this slump. DIRTY GIRL in 18 days.  Now is not a good time to be slacking.

The 30-Day Plank Challenge will send your core strength through the roof!
Day 1 - 20 seconds
Day 2 - 20 seconds
Day 3 - 30 seconds
Day 4 - 30 seconds
Day 5 - 40 seconds
Day 6 - REST
Day 7 - 45 seconds
Day 8 - 45 seconds
Day 9 - 60 seconds
Day 10 - 60 seconds
Day 11 - 60 seconds
Day 12 - 90 seconds
Day 13 - REST
Day 14 - 90 seconds
Day 15 - 90 seconds
Day 16 - 120 seconds
Day 17 - 120 seconds
Day 18 - 150 seconds
Day 19 - REST
Day 20 - 150 seconds
Day 21 - 150 seconds
Day 22 - 180 seconds
Day 23 - 180 seconds
Day 24 - 210 seconds
Day 25 - 210 seconds
Day 26 - REST
Day 27 - 240 seconds
Day 28 - 240 seconds
Day 29 - 270 seconds
Day 30 - PLANK FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!!

This is Halloween

School Carnival.  Lock Shock and Barrel.  Collin did not want to wear all of his costume today.

Again

Another cruddy night last night.   Collin broke out in hives of doom again.  Once they were seen in his mouth, we went to the hospital again just in case any breathing problems were involved.  Dr said it is either viral and will be over with in a week or so.  Or it is allergies and we should go get one of those terrible panel allergy tests.  Saying prayers that it is just a viral thing that will go away in another week.  I don't think I can handle all the blood test crap and then finding out what in our lives we will have to change.  Please let this be viral!

Any who.  I am too tired to walk since we got back last night around 2 ish.  Bleh.  Tomorrow is going to be long and long.  I will tell you about it later.

B is for better

Felt better today.  I think the world caught up to me and I needed time to sleep some of it off.  I stress the word some.  I could probably do the sleep thing about 2 more days and be good. 
Walked 2 miles tonight- 38 minutes.  Not great but I am trying to push my new partner a little. 

Side note: I gave my students a science test last week.  I made every answer "B."  NO STUDENT CAUGHT ON TO IT.

Worn

Had a rough night last night.  Collin woke up around 9:00 PM saying that he was itchy.  I looked him over and he was covered in hives.  His face was swollen and he even had hives in his mouth.  I took him to the ER and a nurse freaked out for a moment.  His scalp was a bright red.  On Friday, I sprayed his hair red for spirit week and it just hadn't come off yet.  After she heard that she calmed down a lot. The doctor didn't know if his reaction was environmental since we were out of town this weekend or if it is viral since he had a temperature and a wicked cough.  We got Collin some prescriptions and headed home that night around 12:30 AM. 

I got to work this morning and decided there was no way I was going to put my students through my zombie mood.  I called to the front office for a substitute and I was home by 9:30.  I was hoping to lay around and do paper work.  Instead the second I laid down, I passed out the hardest I have done in months.  Joe woke me up at 1:00 to make me eat and then I passed out again until about 4:45 in the afternoon. 

A friend of mine text me to walk tonight.  I forced myself up and we did 1.89 miles in about 33 minutes.  Not bad but really not that good.  Oh well at least I got out.

What is really lame is after all that sleeping, I think at this moment, I could lay down and sleep for the rest of the night without a problem.  I am going to force myself to stay awake to do an hour's worth of paper work and then I will allow more sleep.

............Hope I am not getting really sick or something..................bleh................

Voices

2 miles in 30 minutes and 3 seconds.  No partner tonight.  I really had to push myself.  I caught myself talking to,,,,myself periodically.  Wondering if that is normal.  I also cough a lot when I  am done jogging.  Is that normal?  I don't cough while I am running though.

Sidetracked

Was supposed to walk last night.  Ended up at Kohl's somehow.  Oops.

New

New partner tonight.  This was her "first" walk of her training for the Dirty Girl in November.  It was slow but at least I got out tonight.  3 miles in 58 minutes.

AM

AM- 14 minute wog- one mile

2.0 miles=29 minutes 41 seconds

retry

2 miles- 34 minutes, 56 seconds

I did it.  I survived last week. Grades got done.  Parent teacher conference info got out (uhggg that is next week), cub scout float got done, rocket packs were made, and survived the parade.  Now I need to start walking again.  Dirty Girl is November and I know it is going to whoop  my behind.

Yes, this is my real hair.  My hair looks fake.

Buried

I exist.  I really do.  Life has been slowly piling up on me.  Sadly at night is when I can actually get things done so walking has been set aside.  I have also been having weirdo headaches lately.  Strong migraines that make it so I can't move and unfortunately makes me want to throw up.  This last one lasted for almost 48 hours and had a fever attached to it.  What's up with that?  Never had a fever with a migraine before.

I have been doing a lot of science lately.  Not only teaching it everyday but also "being volunteered" for extra shtuff.  I was asked to create a lesson unit for all of 5th grade in the district about microscopes.  At least this mini-job came with a stipend.  I was also asked to be the coach for the science olympiad for pinal county.  I am excited and scared to death.  This is going to be A LOT of work (no money attached to this one, however it does cover some 301 requirements).  And sadly the meetings for this thing are on Saturdays.  That made me sad that I missed my big brother's birthday camping bash. Yay for having a job.  Boo for missing once in a life time memories.

Stupid me also volunteered to lead a bunch of scout leaders into making float for the cub scouts for the Cotton Days parade (or is it coolidge days?)  Anywho, I have spent several nights painting and cutting out a 6 foot rocket.  Tomorrow I am helping the cubbings make back pack rockets out of two liter bottles.

Did I mention grades need to be done and finalized by Friday as well as getting ready for parent teacher conferences next week.  AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRGGGG.

Good night blog, I should be working instead of typing on you.

Lazy

2 miles, 27 minutes.  Better time.  I have been lazy this last week

Still Here!

Okay, I have been training.  I just haven't been writing.  5K was totally awesome.  I NEED to get better at this though.  My walking time was the slowest I have walked.  I found out this particular 5K has a lot of partiers and like to stop and take pictures along the way. Bleh, I just wanted to go fast but I didn't want to leave my carpool people too far behind.

Anywho, now training for the Dirty girl in November.  This 5k requires a lot of upper body strength because there are climbing obstacles.  Gotta keep moving.

Two

2.04 miles in 34 minutes.  Slowly cutting time.  Electric 5K is in two days. 

Wog

1 mile in 14 minutes 30 seconds.  I didn't have a partner tonight, so I tried for speed instead of distance.  My wogging is getting a little faster.  It just doesn't last very long.

Last night's adventure at Safeway brought on for a horrible night.  Couldn't sleep at ALL.  I kept having nightmares and I would wake up every half hour to do a house check.  The check every kid and check their window check.  Just another reason not to do anything stupid like that again.  Hopefully I will sleep tonight.  Kinda tempted to take a benedryl just to ensure a good night's sleep.

Stupid

2 miles-31.44 minutes. Whoo HOo!

Tonight I was doing my grocery shopping at Safeway.  I had just loaded my groceries into my car and got in when 6 very bulky native guys run out of the store, running with as much beer as they could carry.  There were several people from Safeway (workers and customers chasing them).  Two guys tripped and dropped their  beer.  All of them jumped into a truck where most of them had to ride in the back.  The driver could not get the truck started and the alarm on his truck was blaring.  I was stupid (yes I am admitting it) and I pulled my car in front of one of the corners of the truck. Another huge truck blocked the rest of the get away vehicle.  Lots of people were taking pictures of their faces and license numbers.  Driver gets frustrated and pulls out a gun.  That was my cue to drive away which I did very quickly and everyone else ran away.  We stalled them long enough where you could here cops down the boulevard coming.  The truck pulled away and the stupid bad guys lost most of their stash due to tripping.  No one got hurt, but I will admit that was dumb of me and I probably will not be that brave again.  Maybe if someone was getting hurt I will be brave but I will not do things to save stolen merchandise. 

Bleh for adrenaline rush and stupidity.

snakes

Last night I walked around fields and along the canal.  Ended up at my parents house and they weren't even home.  I carried a maglight with me but lights don't keep snakes away. Uhhhggg I almost stepped on two (the harmless kind but still).   3 miles 53 minutes

Slow

2.18 miles in 42 minutes.  Really tired from the day so I think that is why I slowed down so much.  7 AM Tap meeting at the school, 8:30 formal observation for an hour, picture day, principal comes in for an informal observation, 3:30 IEP meeting, race home and get Quintin to ballet, feed kids, bed kids, get pushed out of the door by walking partner.  Longest day ever.

First 5K is in one week.  I better get this thing moving a little more

short

1.5 miles-26 minutes.  Kept it short tonight, too much grading to do tonight.

Wog

New walking partner is relentless.  SOooooo Sore.  Bleh.  I have determined my walking and jogging blend has turned into a "wog".  I wogged today.  That word makes me think a very fat dog trying to run.  It at times has a hint of waddle and is no faster than a fast walk.
2 miles today- 38 minutes

Tuesday

2.89 miles in 53.00 minutes

Dark

3.00 miles in 53 minutes.  I have a second partner who is relentless and strict.  I have keep up or she will ditch me in the dark allies that we walk in.  Probably should consider walk in the morning.  (highly doubt this will happen though)

Sad

44 minutes.  No idea what distance.  However  had a new partner that has a crazy pace and never slows down.  So it must have been a decent distance.

As we were walking we were laughing at each others' jokes and out of no where we see a kid hopping on their trampoline in a back yard.  The kid yells out "Shut up you cankles!"  Now being chunky and all but cankles is the one thing I don't have.  I have rather cute ankles and wrists.  However for a person who is trying really hard to like themselves and forcing themselves to go out and do something about it,  this actually hurt my heart a little.   Every now and then a kid's bad attitude and disrespect really get to me.  It shouldn't, but it does.  Stupid negative people.

further

3.02 miles-52 minutes. 179.6 pounds

excuses

Three days of exhausted.  Teaching, grading, lesson planning, redoing classroom management, playing chauffeur, cooking, cleaning, not sleeping well...................excuse excuse.  I haven't walked in three days.  Tonight it has to somehow happen.

Wednesday

2.1 miles. 36 minutes

Conspiracy

Some unknown darkness did not want me to walk today.  First there is blister on the bottom of my foot that comes and goes.  It can not make up its mind.  Next, after morning duty today, I dropped my ipod and cracked the glass front (a lot). Can't walk without my beats.  Got home from work today exhausted but was pushed outside side by myself and husband.  After .5 miles, the shorts I was wearing were chaffing so bad I ran in the house and changed.  Went back outside and stopped after another .5 miles due to the vast amount of mosquitoes. (MOSQUITOES is a really dumb looking word).  Sadly after only a mile total, I caved in and now am sitting on my bed putting benedryl ointment on my legs before I start scratching.  I don't think I was meant to walk today.

Preview Before the Finale

Here are some yard pictures after the landscapers said they were done.  Unfortunately I had a few complaints.  The sprinkler system was not turning on properly and would flood the yard everyday.  We also asked for a border to separate the grass from the gravel.  For some reason they put in a thin, metal, rusty, and protruding piece of metal.  All I could envision was one of my kids tripping and hitting their head on it.  So after some communication, the border was changed.  Here are pics before the grass really came to life and the border was fixed.  Will post the final pictures when the lawn gets mowed for the first time.  SQUEEEEE!

above ground garden

patio

grape view no longer squished by weeds

dog run with gravel

TREES!

Santa Rosa Plum Tree (please make fruit!)

purple leaf plum (flowering tree, no fruit)

no more clutter

very confused kitty

patio

scary metal border that had to go

Info

2.5 miles in 46 minutes

Friday

I survived the first week of school.  I LOVE my mornings.  I have three classes of 5th graders who are excited, interested, helpful, and wonderful.  As for my afternoons, BLEH!  Two classes of 4th graders that are noisy, don't know what a chair is for, can't write anything I ask them even if it is copying it from the board.  The classes in the afternoon also take, on average, 20 minutes longer to do the daily lesson than the morning classes.  This means they do not get to watch the enrichment science videos (some Bill Nye the science guy), play review games, or have any meaningful discussions.  It is all classroom management and it is making me grumpy.

Tonight's walk was 1.5 miles in 26 minutes.  I found out tonight that I can run .25 miles without stopping.  YAY.  However my jog is still almost as fast as my fast walk.  Boo.

Loss (finally)

Tonight I was sore and tired from work.  Thank goodness a friend called and asked if I wanted company tonight.  Thank goodness because I wasn't going to go.  There is only one negative to company is that I don't do any jogging, but my body is probably grateful for that today.  I am very grateful for the occasional push.  I don't want a constant push or I might dislike going. 

So today's verdict 2.54 miles in 47 minutes.  I decided I would throw in my weight with the verdict at least once a week.  Last Thursday on the 1st, I weighed 185.2.  This morning I weighed 179.8.  Not too shabby.  I don't expect to lose much more too quickly because I know most of the weight lost that has happened is due to being in a classroom all day and no where near my kitchen.

P. S.  TOMORROW IS FRIDAY!!! Happy first week of school being over!

Exhausted

I need to take a pedometer to work to see how many miles a teacher walks.  My dogs are barkin'!!! Yesterday was the first day of school and almost as soon as Joe got home from work, I went to sleep.  I did however force my self to walk tonight.  1.5 miles in 25 minutes.  I would have went longer but I couldn't start walking until about 8:30 and walking late at night gives me the heebee jeebees.  So any who, yeah I walked today. 

This year I am teaching 4th and 5th grade.  Due to weird numbers of students this year and lack of teachers, the school decided to have the fourth and fifth grade rotate classes.  I got to be the lucky one and teach Science only. I also have the most awesomest room ever.  It has laboratory sinks (7 of them), a chemical shower that if any of my students touch they will be suspended for a week, cupboards galore, and lots of fun equipment.  I will post pictures as soon as my walls have a little more on them.  I am waiting for some student work to decorate my bulletin boards. 

Company

Walked with a friend tonite.  She doesn't do any jogging, so time was a little slower.  However she did compromise that if we didn't jog, we would at least do two miles.  So two miles in 37 minutes.

Plans

Missed two days of "jogging" due to girliness ( I am sure you will figure that out). Did not want to miss three days in a row.  1.5 miles in 24 minutes.  Tonite (due to a cooler breeze) I forced myself to run more than walk.  This released in new discoveries.  The all famous pain in the side.  I haven't felt that in years due to laziness. And my fingers swelled up really big.  I have no idea what that means. Any ideas on that one, let me know.

My time is finally starting to shorten so I need to come up with a new plan.  The 5k in September is 3.1 miless.  Right now I am doing 1.5 miles.  Do I....

A.  Go the full distance and try to shorten my time from there

B.  Continue to the distance I am going and get it as fast as I can and then add on the rest of the distance once I have a more bearable speed.

C.  Continue with the distance for one more week. Next week add .5 to 1 mile and work on that for two weeks, then add the remaining distance for the last bit of time before the 5K.

My biggest problem is time consumption and not so much body pains (yet).  I don't want to be out every night for an hour and a half.  And because of this, I don't know what plan to take.  Any suggestions on this would be helpful.

Burn

1.5 miles.  25 minutes.  I am having no problems with out of breath or heart rate.  Just the muscles on my legs don't want to play at all. 

Push

I haven't walked for a couple days. Forced myself out of the door.  It was really hard.  I don't mind walking after I get through the first two minutes, it's just putting on my shoes and mentally forcing myself is what is making this difficult.  I have a few friends that want to do our walks together.  I am not quite ready for that.  My pacing sucks.  My legs are short and walking fast is not my forte.  I walk as fast as I can and then do the random jog thing to keep my time up.   Not sure how that will work out when we go to the Electric 5K in August.  I really need to somehow lengthen my stride.  1.5 miles tonight.  26 minutes.

The yard of many woes- BEFORE

 So.  This was my yard.  Covered in fox tails.  So bad I wouldn't want my kids back there.  Bad enough that I would not even babysit anyone's dog back there. 

 So may lovely places for ant hills and black widows to conjure.

 It might be a GI Joe play land where Joe is perhaps in a dead forest or desert setting.

 Toys rotting and rusted from the sun.

 A dog run that floods when it rains and makes the stickiest mud ever.

 Yellow bleh.

We only lived here six years to decide enough was enough.  That and I finally saved enough money to do something about it. 

Gain

I do know that I need to fix my eating habits.  However since I have been walking and "jogging" for a week now, why is that I have gained two pounds.  That is just several levels of not nice.  I can not wait for school to start.  It is a controlled environment where I can not look at a fridge and I eat healthier for at least two meals of the day.


Also am I supposed to be doing this everyday?  I have been but last night I cheated and didn't because a special three old has not been letting me sleep.  So last night I skipped out on the venture.

Sore

Another day.  I took Collin on the walk with me today so he would stop getting in trouble.  It was good.  He got his one on one attention.  We walked 1.5 miles in 28 minutes.  Slower than yesterday but I think I might just be sore from the attempted run yesterday.

Sticky Night

1.5 miles in 27 minutes.  If  you want to get technical I would say it was really 24 minutes since I ran into the missionaries who just introduced themselves to one of my neighbors.  Just as I walked up, the Elder said a prayer and so I stopped for a few.  Walking in a weird pattern today.  Since I want to stay close to home I walked the first block "lap."  During the second lap I jogged (sadly this is as fast as my walking right now) for the length of four houses and walked for six.  During the third lap I jogged for six houses and walked for four.

P.S. Humidity sucks

The yard

My backyard is....scary.  Goatheads (pointy seeds of doom that will leave scars if you step on them), foxtails, insects, those plants no one knows the name of that have the poisonous yellow berries.  After only living in here for 6 years, we finally hired someone to do the yard. I am so excited but it has been kinda strange. 
The team that is working is never consistent with time.  They give us a time and always show up at a different time or date.  I didn't give them a finishing date for this (totally regretting this) and they are taking forever.  It took a good 4 days for the sprinkler system to be done.  However I do not know how long that normally takes so perhaps I am complaining about nothing.

One of the guys smokes and it is a little sad to see cigarette butts on the ground.  And they leave a lot of trash around.  I am sure they will clean up but still it is a little sad.

Today I came home and they had planted the tree.  I asked for a 9 year old Santa Rosa Plum Tree.  In my back yard was a purple 3 year old purple leaf plum tree that makes flowers but no fruit.  It's pretty but I was totally excited to have a plum tree. Unfortunately since the tree was planted, it could not be returned.  With some discussion we decided to put two trees in the back yard.  Hopefully they will get the right tree tomorrow.



PURPLE LEAF PLUM





 Santa Rosa Plum

Timing and Measuring

There is a "Hot Cocoa" 5k in December where the participants are required to finish each mile in no more than 15 minutes.  That doesn't seem bad if I could get these short legs to lengthen their stride.  Tonight I walked around the block two times.  Got in my car and measured the block to  be .48 miles.  When I walked I took the outside of the road which curves out a lot in three of the corners.  So I am going to say it is about 1/2 mile each time I walk around the block.  Walking twice took 18 minutes. ( I do need to keep in mind that I need to be doing this for three miles and not just one) Since I have til December and maybe I will actually be doing a little more than walking, I am hopeful.

The burn that took forever!

After taking on task that I thought would take me about 4 hours to do, I have officially decided to start saving up for a real wood burner.  I finished a juniper head board for Malcolm that took over 20 hours to finish.  The drawing is inspired from a Bev Doolittle painting.  I think with a real burner instead of a soldering iron, I could do pieces like this in half the time.  Now that it is done, I can finally use my no longer occupied coffee table again.  YAY

What did I just get myself into?

I just signed up (financially committed)  for my first 5K "run."  So I am not really a runner, we are going to call it the 5K go as fast as I can until I get to the end.  It is on September 13th, a little less than two months to at least make sure I can walk 5K in an appropriate time period.  We shall see what happens......

Today I walked - 1.6 miles in about 30 minutes