The 100

Okay...note it on the calendar:  today is the first day of my new workout plan.  I have let this 38 year old body get too far out of shape and I'm putting a stop to it NOW.  Not only have I not run in weeks, due to a sick child, I haven't even walked on the treadmill this week.  In fact, I haven't done a whole lot of anything physical this week and it's driving me batty.  Especially since I had found this workout over the weekend and had been planning on starting it Monday morning.  Then I had a puking kid on my lap for most of the week....

The workout is called 'The 100' and it's all around the internet in a variety of forms.  I like that I can easily modify it for my needs.  Here is what I came up with:

Monday  - Wednesday - Friday

The 100 Workout – Lower Body

100    Lunges

90       Crunches

80       Squats

70       Leg Lifts

60       Lunges

50       Crunches

40       Squats

30       Leg Lifts

20       minutes of running

10       minutes of stretching 

Tuesday – Thursday – Weekend

The Modified 100 Workout – Upper Body

50       Hand to Knee Pulls – each side

40       Curls

30       Chair Dips

20       Lat Raises

10       Pushups

50       Hand to Knee Pulls – each side

40       Curls

30       Chair Dips

20       Lat Raises

10       Pushups

Clearly the original (and I use that term loosely) plan is geared toward lower body exercises.  So, I made up my own modified version to work my upper body.  The beauty of this is that I can swap out exercises when my body becomes used to these.  It's relatively quick...although it took me a while to get thru it this morning.  And it's deceptively hard!  When I first looked at it I thought, really?  It's 4 or 5 exercises, repeated twice, how hard can that be?  Answer:  my legs are still shaking.  

One of the driving forces behind getting myself in shape again is that I've been asked to be a part of a team running the Cascade Lakes Relay next summer.  This is great on a bunch of different levels.  First, I finally get to run with my very awesome cousin who is a very accomplished runner.  Second, if gives me a concrete goal.  I have to pay an entry fee and I have people counting on me.  Third, I'm nothing if not competitive.  I have no illusions of being the fastest person on the team but I'll be damned if I'm going to be the slowest.  

So...here's to a new workout plan, healthy kids, a great cousin, a goal and a little competition!  

Tattoos

See that line up there?  The one right under the title of this blog?  "I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth".  That's from Jane Eyre, my absolutely favorite book ever.  And I mean EVER.  I never paid attention to the book when I was growing up, it was just another english assignment.  But, I picked it up and read it again last year and I was completely taken by it.  I've re-read it several times and always find another layer of depth to the characters and storyline.

That particular line of literature is spoken by Jane at the end of the book when she finally finds happiness with Mr. Rochester.  It struck me as the perfect line to sum up how I feel about my husband & my family.  So much so that I had it tattooed on my side.  Really.  I did.  It goes from my ribcage to my hip bone and is surrounded by some freehand scroll work done by the tattoo artist.  I love it.  Muchly.  Most people respond to seeing it with "Oh my, that's big"  or "Holy Cow", which always makes me smile. Not that I go around hiking up my shirt for people to see it.  I've only shown it to a few family members and close friends.  I didn't get it done to have a lot of people see it, I got it done for my own enjoyment.  For me, I am glad to have a statement that means so much to me immortalized with me forever.

Soon I plan on getting my ring finger tattooed instead of wearing my wedding band.  My ring broke last month and I lost the setting out of it.  I took it off since it was catching on everything and now I'm totally used to not wearing it.  But, I don't want it to appear that I'm single (especially as I'm dragging 3 kids around) I am going to have my husband's initial tattooed on there instead.  A very simple 'M'.

And from there, who knows....I might get a few others.  :)

The Quilt Business That Wouldn't Die

About 4 years ago I started a custom quilting business out of my home.  I purchased a mid-sized machine and set to work.  My client base grew steadily and I found great satisfaction in the work.  About a year and a half ago, the business really took off and I upgraded to a long-arm machine w/computerized options.  I had 5-6 quilts in my sewing room/office at any given time and they just kept coming in.

Around this same time I got offered a job with an organization I had worked closely with through my work on the trade show.  Fearing a missed opportunity if I passed it up, I jumped on board.  I now had 3 jobs/businesses...all of which I could run from my at-home office.  What I also had, over the next few months, were ulcers.  Both of my office jobs have the same January deadline since they work in conjunction with each other and the vast majority of quilt clients wanted their quilts done by Christmas.  I was living under one deadline after the other.

Don't get me wrong, I was glad for the work and job opportunities.  There are a lot of people who don't have either right now so I'm not complaining.  But,  this spring I decided I had to let one of them go and the quilt business seemed like the easiest one.  I made the decision, told a few clients and even posted it on Facebook (where the entire world could see it...ugh).  However, the machine hasn't sold as of yet and, low and behold, the quilts keep coming in.  "Could you do just one more before for me before your done?" and "It's just a little one...".  Since I still have the machine and could use the extra cash, I've been  taking them.  And...that's how I continue to have quilt business even though I had every intention of closing up shop.  In fact, as I write this I should be working on one of the 7 quilts I have sitting here because I have several others that are still on the To-Do list.

So...I could sit here and spin this into a 'grasping opportunities' schpeel or I could just get back to work and make the most of what's been set before me.

Goodbye and Hello

Today I made the decision to leave Facebook.  Not a huge deal but it did take a little convincing just because of how easily I can keep in touch with relatives and friends.  But I got tired of the confusing changes, the hacking attempts and, quite frankly, the temptation to sit and waste chunks of time that I'll never get back.

So...I say goodbye to Facebook and hello to all the moments that I hope to gain back with this decision.  Maybe it will even allow me to blog more often, who knows!