Humbled..

Can't decide whether to comment on the good or the bad first.. I haven't posted much in the past few days as I've been slogging along well enough ..but considering things going on with others- my day to day struggles seem really to pale in comparison..
I mean really- there are several Blends out there that are really having a much Harder go of things worrying about HUGE health, family,financial & emotional situations.. So really in comparison.. I have nothing to complain about my life is at the moment fairly mundane- & to be honest I never much talk about the dialog in my own head to anyone... let alone drag you all down with it. Just some days are rough..

So enough of that..
I should cheer up & say a Big Congrats to 2 of our Own who have run the BFL gauntlet & have been chosen as Body For Life Champions!
A job well done Jen & Sylvia! You have show us all that it can be done!
With a great combination of dedication & determination that I'd love to have- apparently , anything is possible :)

Jamie's Birthday Weekend..

So all last week I'm blithering about all the snow.. & what do I do as soon as it starts to warm up enough to melt a bit...Go find some MORE!

Well actually I had been planning for some time to take Jamie away somewhere for his 40th Birthday .. & what we ended up doing is pulling the kids from school Fri & heading up Thurs night inland about 4-5hrs to a place called Sun Peaks Resort for a weekend of something that Jamie LOVES -- skiing!

It was a wonderful time! & yea Stef.. we were thinking of you .. we even tried to call you from up there ( The Birthday Boy wanted to torment you & Russ about the new powder we were skiing in~lol~ ) but couldn't get thru :(

Anywho .. it was great all around! we stayed just down at the bottom of the mountain at a friends cabin that I've talked about before...very rustic .. ( read outdoor plumbing & getting up every few hours to stoke the wood stove to stay warm) but if that is the only cost..hey we're in!

We had snow on Fri & SUNSHINE all Saturday - it wasn't supposed to but Jamie figured I "ordered" it special for him since that was the Birthday day!

We put the kids in lessons for the first 2 days & by Sun AM Stevie was off with Jamie & a friend of his that we met up with doing a BLACK DIAMOND run!!!

Good grief ...Do 8 yr old boys have No fear or what??

Now today again its like after any trip ... me at home with about a thousand loads of laundry .. how do those of you with LOTS of kids do this??? ( Janel, Eileen...anyone??) akkkkkk! I can only imagine!!

The good thing is that my legs are just Smoked!!
As you can see in the pic taken inside after skiing-- you end up tired.. but it's such a Good tired!! Whooooo Hoooo .. :)
Three days of hard work for the Body... was GOOOD ..Now if only the food was ummm a bit "cleaner" I'd be way ahead of the game..
Yea well..holidays tend to be like that don't they?? .. So back at things today!

this past week..

Well I can honestly say it was a good week.. kept on track but I did NOT go to the gym.. umm it was about the weather!
We got an unexpected HUGE dump of snow which you can see in the pics was pretty in the AM .. but by nighttime there was a FOOT of it..The last pic is over at my parents a couple days ago.. So Pretty there on the the riverfront!
The thing is-we don't get snow like that here on the "Wet Coast." So it made for interesting workouts of shoveling & then goin for a 5k hike to my FIL house to shovel for him too since he was away & returning the next day!
the hike was fun ..just Jamie & I in the middle of the snow storm! LOL~

Then it has been COLD every since - yea below freezing -which again here is REALLY unusual - mostly here it turns to rain pretty quick & turns it all to mush.. NOT this time...So we still have snow -lots of it !! & Ummm right now it's snowing again! AKK..

So instead of taking my life in my hands driving around folks who do NOT know how to drive on Ice or snow & freezing by butt off going to the gym- I've been doing very entertaining workout "tapes" at home.. yep I did say TAPES .
I dug out the old FIRM fullbody work outs with weights & have been doing those.. It's good having someone to "boss" me around..& as I told Cheri.. seeing those Bodysuits & leotards makes it allllll worth it! ~lol~
Other than that I've been hiking back & forth to go sledding every day & waiting for Karrena to have her babby! --& he's finally here! Congrats to K!

Hope you all are safe in whatever Bizzare weather Mother Nature has sent you!

One week down..

So I've made it thru the first week of getting back to things.. it was kind of fun-- & funny .. & yes -it was a series of "baby steps" triumphs .
I managed to stick to eating healthy .. even ended up buying a whole chicken to eat the breast off it on the way home from Costco with the kids! ~lol~
let me tell you... avoiding the samples in there was HARD! akk! :P

Getting in workouts was a bit more of a challenge seeing as the kids were still home, & then I had to go back to silly work.. but I managed to get creative..
one eve at work, I did a body weight work out on my break & another - I took one of my girlfriends out for a 45 min speed walk up & down around the hospital grounds on our dinner break..& let me tell you for me this was something 'cause it was COLD!!!
but we talked & caught up while we went ..so it was good !
Yesterday we all went for a HUGE bike ride down the hill from us - thru some trails & up some more hills !! We did this since Stevie had got his " new bike" that he had desperately been wanting with his Xmas money & we had a decent day to try it! :D
again.. it was cold but really kinda fun & cool involving the kids & Jamie in my "cardio" .

& best of all - I even managed to say a very assertive "no thanks" to the orange cake * droool* that someone had brought into work last night.. & ate my veggies instead..
So all in all a really good week!! .. still don't really wanna talk about numbers or weights.. just trying to keep my hand hold on the "wagon!"

Thanks all for you words of wisdom & encouragement.. I've enjoyed & leaned on them this week!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Ok- so that isn't a very Original title.. having finally had a second in the past couple days to check in on every one.. I see that is a common theme! ~lol~

Hopefully the New Year has passed & you have survived it & come thru unscathed..or at least by now you have recovered if nothing else!

We ended up having a progressive dinner party that took us to a total of 4 different homes for 4 different courses of dining adventures .
I seem to spend Waaaaay too much time telling you about all the eatin & drinking goin on in our lives so I'll give you the Cole's notes version & say that we ended up here with about a dozen adults & 7 kids by the time Midnight rolled around! It was a great combination of both levels of fun- champagne & the Hot tub for the grown-ups & sparkling apple juice & X-box for the kids!
& everyone in the Cul-de -sac for sparklers & much banging of pots at 1200!


But Now.....

It is TIME ...

ok -it is SOOOOO way past time for me to ditch the Holiday mode that I have somehow slipped into & REMAINED in since the Trip to Mexico in November..

Today I began what I know will be the S L O W & painful trek back to a focus of fitness & health & eating right.
So it's been glass after glass of water ( or actually-warm cup since it's been bloody cold, rainy stormy all day) & throwing out all the spinach dip & other remnants of the orgy of food & drink that took over our household for December.
& it was a trip up the stairs to do a spin on the treadmill...nothing really exciting.. don't want to bugger my foot right off the get go.. since it's been almost tolerable lately- but Cardio none the less.

I know I have a LOT of work to do..
ALOT!
& frankly since I- not unlike some other blends- have dark moments of depression in the winter ..I don't know if I want to know the weight & numbers just yet..it might just send me into a bad spin :(

I'm not all excited & fired up .. maybe some of you could lend me a dose of your enthusiasm..cause I know some of you have LOTS right now..
I seem to have left mine somewhere... or maybe it's just general lethargy- I dunno
but I just know it is TIME.