Sunday Night Blues

It is the end of Spring Break. I hate that. Tomorrow we go back to schedules and practices and classes, etc. I enjoy the unstructured bit a lot more. I didn't get enough done to satisfy myself, nor did I get enough pure relaxation to make that o.k. Sometimes, it just doesn't happen that way.

So, tomorrow I will have a big to-do list which hopefully I can cross things off of in order to feel productive. One of the things I have to do is finish my book for Book Club- Until Proven Innocent, which is a book about the Duke Lacrosse rape case. I have a need for the world to be fair (even though my mother told me constantly that it wasn't) and this book is driving me crazy. Doesn't help that I have a son in that demographic of college bound athlete, and it just infuriates me on behalf of those mothers who had to watch that. Seriously upping my blood pressure, I am sure. Making it hard to read for long stretches.

Looking forward to a day alone in my house, though. I do enjoy some time away from the Disney channel (the youngest) and/or ESPN (the oldest) audio constantly droning in the background.

Now that spring is officially here, I need a new set of goals to work on. Stacy Julian posted a summer time challenge last year, and I think I want to attempt it this spring in an effort to get a jump on the summer thing.

Here are the basics:

Throw away or hide the scale
Purchase or check out a good book to read from everyday
Get at least seven hours of sleep six nights a week
Replace negative self talk with positive affirmations
Refuse to gossip or add negativity to any conversation

Life Summary

Love yourself just the way you are, but commit to becoming a better version of you, by throwing out anything that sends messages of guilt to your brain. Decide instead to fill your mental bucket with good, uplifting and motivational stuff.

· 30 minutes of sustained, aerobic exercise 3-4 times a week
· 20 to 30 minutes of strength training exercise 2-3 times a week
· 15 minute walk (outside) every single day, opposite your exercise


Exercise Summary

Six days a week, twice a day. If you are doing aerobic/strength training in the a.m., then you walk in the evening. If you are exercising in the evening, then you start each day with a brisk “fresh air” walk. Take one rest day each week.

· Eat breakfast by 8:00 every day.
· Correct issues with portion control
· Eat 3 fresh/unadulterated servings of fruit/veggies everyday
· One or less caffeinated/diet drink per day
· No fast food
· No eating after 7 Monday thru Thursday
· Drink 3 glasses of water between meals each day
· No indiscriminate snacking

Food Summary

Six days a week, eat 5-6 portion-controlled meals a day. Three of these meals should be eaten slow enough to savor each food.

The only thing that I know for sure I cannot do is stop eating by 7- many times dinner is at 7:30, especially during baseball season. I will just pledge not to eat after dinner.

I would really like to lose 10 lbs by the middle of June. I would really LOVE to lose 15 lbs by then.

There, I said it. If it is on the web, it must be true, right??
Happy Spring!

Friends

I have become really picky about friends as I get older. I mean, when my kids were little, any warm body at the playground was just fine. Just sit and talk grown up with me, please. Now that my little people aren't so little (as in, I am tied with one of them for shortest in the group), I find it harder to make good quality friends. I think I've started listening to what they are actually saying now.

One of my very good friends, Michele, has a daughter who is my daughter's (the one I tied for shortest with) very good friend. The kind of friend who can come visit your house for 3 days of spring break and cause not a ripple in the fabric of your life. Not one. No visit from the younger sister complaining that the bigger girls won't include her, or anything. It was wonderful to have her here. I just wish Michele could have come. Then I could have had a friend to hang out and talk with, too. But she did the next best thing- she sent chocolate covered fruit. yum.

I am trying to look at the bright side of the fact that most of my friends do not live locally. I am lucky to have many friends in many places, thanks to the Marine Corps. I have a killer Christmas Card list. Unfortunately, this does not always translate to someone to call and go shopping with on a Tuesday.

I did get to spend time with a friend last night, scrapbooking with her and several members of her family who were visiting. I am currently working on a Halloween album, which showcases all of the kids' costumes. Actually, I think I finished it last night, but I want to look at it all together and see if it needs anything else added. I am also working on an album for my son's graduation from high school, which is coming a lot faster than I think. I am almost finished with it, except for the pages I can't do yet, like graduation itself and this year's baseball season and prom. I liked having other people to scrap with, as I generally do that all by myself in my basement. Pattie's cousin is quite talented- her pages were fabulous. I really enjoyed sitting by her and watching her work.

Another thing for my to-do list- make more time to spend with friends. Right after make more local friends.

Initial Blog Post

Well, here I go. Dragging my feet into the twenty-first century. Is this a case of everybody's doing it? I am not sure. I do know that I love to read other people's blogs. I check in on a good 15 people or so every week. Only one of those people do I know personally. I enjoy reading what others are doing and thinking. I hope to use this as a record of a pretty ordinary life, a mom of 3- lots of stuff there to write about and use as blackmail material later (like when the Jonas Brothers are no longer popular).

My friend Shellie said it best- this time with my kids is going really fast and I want to remember it. I do scrapbook, and I have those, but I am hoping for something more immediate with the blog. Thoughts as I am having them, not carefully edited over time. I hope to show some photos on here, too.