updating oneself

In having decided to do the 12wbt (12 week body transformation) as a way to motivate me to up the exercise from the occasional 6 to 10km walk 3 times a week to everyday as well as finding food to eat and prepare that tastes good and I can cook for farmer as well. I think the way Michelle bridges has done her program, it clever and entrepreneurial to say the least.

When you go to the site it tells you when the next 12 weeks are going to run, so you can do the pre-work up tasks, where you need to ‘get real’ with yourself, Introduce yourself, set goals and many other tasks one does. Once the date of the 12 weeks commences you are in the program. This is a great way of maximizing dollars and value not only to the signees but also to the Michelle Bridges team. It captures a vast market of people and can track results and give as accurate amount of information statistically as possible.

I am liking the food options, they are tasty, easy to cook and the recipes are done for two, I add more to accommodate the farmer and his daily activities. He would do more incidental exercise than anyone I know. I would hesitate to guess that even feeding out to all of the cattle he would walk over 5 to 6 km’s. He loads the hay, drives it to where the mobs are, sets the Ute in four-wheel drive and he gets out, cutting the ties and pulling off hay in sections as the vehicle moves along so that it all doesn’t fall in the one place. he does this with every bale. Most days I am sure that he would beat my 6km walk on the treadmill.

In updating oneself I laughed yesterday as I updated the IPod, whilst doing the book work. I uploaded some of my CD’s and then made a play list ‘complete 80’s” sadly going backward to go forward. I found some ‘Go West’ a bit of ‘Huey Lewis and the News’ ‘Sister Sledge’ and many more. So one thinks is this going backward or is it moving forward, some of the music I downloaded was played at the Steps classes I use to attend to. 12 WBT has not started yet, so I am going through with the tasks – “Get real” is confronting and interesting, you have to come up with the excuses you give yourself for not exercising and then you have to give yourself the solution. According to Michelle “being too busy” is the greatest one used and the biggest cop-out, just get up earlier she says but as we know sometimes that is hard, that can be a precious hour in bed.

Is this my motivation to motivate myself? I don’t know but I feel better eating better and cooking meals that are tasty and don’t require lengthy preparation times. It is a calorie based food choices, which is something I haven’t done before. Oh well I have 5 more weeks to go till it actually starts, I wonder how many people who join are doing what I am doing – getting meal ideas from the site and cooking them. It will be interesting to see if there are any statistics that demonstrate a loss of weight and increased fitness occurs leading up the to the start date. Anyway the colour run – here I come.

I’m Bored.

We were lucky enough yesterday to have friends drop in and spend the day with us, they have two boys and one brought a friend. The youngest two seated themselves on the couch and happily played with electronic toys and games (until the power ran out). we then got power and commenced lunch. It is nice to share a day with a good girlfriend and seeing as we had such great weather it was also lovely to sit outside.

Her husband and teenage son went in search for the farmer if for nothing else but to assist him and for male company. So the BBQ was cooked, wine poured, beer cans opened and then it was time to sit, but from the inside of the house came a statement I haven’t heard for a while “I’m bored”. I did laugh and I wasn’t surprised how two country boys who are normally active can sit for hours without being bored. “Ok” I said and went and got a cricket bat and tennis balls, “come on time for backyard cricket then.”‘ With happy faces they came out side and looked at the lawn “we don’t have wickets” “yes use the tin can for one and the step-ladder for the other.”I ventured, necessity being the mother of invention also I didn’t think they needed to be inside watching a DVD which was the next option.

So off they started, it wasn’t long till the teenage boy joined in and then the farmer. The farmer was a great cricketer in his youth and won many awards for his ability. So the afternoon started to shape up to become a little more fun for the boys, Dad of 2 boys joined in and then myself and their mum, here is where it became competitive. It reminded me of my brothers and the fun I had on the beach as a young girl playing cricket. Once the farmer started hitting balls all over the place, rules came in – 6 and out was to hit it on the roof, into the dog kennels or any other place that required a concentrated effort to retrieve the ball. Once the boys gained confidence but also lost stamina, they would like to sit till they considered it their turn to bat, so the rule came in, no fielding, no batting and bowling didn’t count.

We then went to one hand one bounce and then ”tippygo’ I was never good at batting but played anyway – I got six and out for hitting the ball onto the roof where it still sits today.  but I am happy to field. There was shouts of “bum before”  similar to “leg before” but different you can get the picture, no shouts of LBW more of “run just run” “don’t forget to say crease” and lots and lots of laughter. Self stumping was also a problem when it was discovered the stumps would somehow be moved into the batters crease. The adults outlasted the children and it was a fun time had by all. It is a great way to spend an afternoon, good friends, good food, good wine and enough exercise to break up the afternoon.

They all ended up staying for dinner and a couple of the neighbours called over for a drink. The two young boys, ready to go home and happily packed up their things and went as soon as they were asked. We talked about easter and making some ‘stumps’ for when they came then. I love days like these and the people who come to enjoy our company, I could do with more of them, it is nice to have friends who understand the isolation of the country, the work load of the farmer and the need to come offer help and then once the jobs have been done, time to sit relax and enjoy life.

On a good day

It’s one of those days, I’m a tad over it already (started blog at 745am) and have been since I was woken 3 times during the night. We have very active cats that now the cool has come in, are finding those little animals that need protection from them. It also involves an old dog that finds it difficult to get up to go to the toilet, so needs to be lifted on to all fours and then the contents of his bowels picked off the floor and both deposited outside, then we have a farmer who for the last 4 or more weeks has taken not to sleep much after 4am. He finds comfort in the radio so puts it on and drifts in and out of sleep, me the same it’s not relaxing at all.

I am recovering from the flu and from our state Government election, you know the one, it’s unwelcome and hangs around for long periods of time being nothing but a headache and stagnant. The flu on the other hand can be slept off, medications added and generally can take a couple of days off work and it seems to move on. Both wear you out and you never get an end result you want, yet the flu can leave you feeling fatigued, with a persistent cough and general lethargy.

It has been dry here and I know the work load of feeding stock hay every second day is a lot of work on top of the farmers work and he doesn’t sleep, we need rain to wet the paddocks and to allow things to grow. The paddocks look bare due to the livestock living on it and eating what little stumps are left. We are looking to grow our business and am working hard to make this happen and like the climate, some things are out of our control whilst we wait on outside influences to make decisions. It will get better we know it always does, but getting there is sometime hard. There are countless days of feeling frustrated, no matter how hard one works its like elections & the flu, no real outcome, no renewal and no moving forward, I know once we jump a few more hurdles it’s all going to be ok.

I have opted to do the Michelle Bridge 12wbt starting in May and one of her things is to say out loud why you can’t exercise and saying your too busy isn’t really a good enough excuse. Get up early if you work, well can I tell you I am up early and some nights 3 or more times, through not fault of my own. I also started today with – can you cut my hair, this is at 730am so I did, then it’s a quick bite to eat and into cleaning the floors and ridding the house of the smell of cat urine. I have only half finished but it’s going to be a long day today and a difficult one if I stay in the mood I am in. I know all I need is a good nights sleep and I can’t exercise with the smell of cat around me so the exercise part is looking closer to being done this afternoon. Have a good day people.

Hump day

We are back here again, hump day, I said this to my Huz the other day and he had never heard the term. I explained it was the day that was the middle of the working week, the one you know you HAVE to get through to do the downward run to the weekend. It’s the day I run my business in the Bordertown pharmacy and I do enjoy it. I do laser IPL hair removal whilst the other girls do pigmentation, veins, spots, acne and mirco-hydro-dermabrasion. They have a beautiful set up and I am thrilled to be part of it.

I am struggling this hump day and wonder if it has anything to do with the full moon from the previous couple of days. Huz was up early as he is travelling to Victoria with a mate to purchase a car hoist, so this means we are all up, cats, dogs and sleeping me. He is not the quietest of people and puts the light on to look for stuff, though a good planner her fails to get most things ready the night before, by this I mean clothes, shoes, backpack so it’s a dig it out of the cupboard whilst in a hurry to leave.

As it’s also getting lighter and warmer at 530am in the morning, this morning I chose not to lie in, I was over it by 615am so put my gear on and did a 6.5km jog on the treadmill. It took me just on an hour, which I am thrilled about as it displays to me I am getting fitter. Pete the golden likes to lie in the doorway on the carpet watching me (actually he sleeps facing the room) the cats all settle back down and ignore me, so the iPod goes on and off I go. Every time I get on it I promise myself it will become a daily ritual, one that I am yet to do, with TAFE, work and other things I sometimes get time in the afternoon but lack enthusiasm to do it.

Hump day is like that, though most people start things on a Monday (the most popular day to start anything new), Wednesday is the next most popular day for people to commence diets & exercise programs. I used Dr google for this information. Don’t ever start on a Friday unless you have more willpower than most as most people can dream about as, it’s the day before the weekend and can be stressful and the option here is to cancel plans and start the next week.

Anyway I am on the downward stretch to the end of the working day. Hope your hump day isn’t taking as long as mine.

my feet are tired

Do you get to sundays and think about how much work your feet do for you during the week? I am today he woke me this morning to encourage me to do my walk I rolled out of bed, went to the bathroom and got on the scales. Hooray for me I have had another good weight loss. I looked at my exercise clothes, I have to keep them in the bathroom, get dressed there and sneak out of the house to avoid my 15 yr old Golden Retriever “Pete” who wants to come with me. He is old and can no longer keep up, he tore his cruiciate ligament many years ago and we were advised not to fix it (he has had $7000 of surgery on his broken front paw & has 3 pins in it) it has healed well but if he walks to far or fast it collapses on him and it breaks my heart so I try and walk him to the dam x3 weekly for swimming only. I looked at my clothes and then my feet said “I’m tired” so I did what dedicated people do. Climbed back into bed 🙂

My daughter when she was little use to say that to me “I can’t mummy, my feet are tired” so I have chosen this as an excuse to not exercise this morning and as I lay back down, put the TV on I thought about my feet and what they have done this week. My pedometer tells me in the last 7 days I have walked over 67000 steps. I aim for 10000 daily and some days this week I haven’t got to that due to work commitments that required me to sit. I haven’t yet got my fitness back to be able to walk the 10km in the time I was doing before christmas and I don’t want to strain anything at my age.

What have I put my feet through this week? they have had shoes put on them that have been uncomfortable but look good, all in looking professional when I have seen clients, they have had slippers on them most mornings and they are “like cushions for the feet”. In the later part of the week I wanted to wear them to work. I have worn comfortable shoes walking to the chicken coop to let the chickens out, throw them scarps, collect the eggs & lock them back up at night to save them from foxes. I have worn these to let the dogs off, water the aggi’s, hang clothes on line (see yesterdays blog), bring clothes in, walk to the car, do food shopping, walk from shop to bank, to newsagent, to post office, to chemist, to the council office. I have walked in to the Dr’s surgery, walked in and out of hospitals (for my work) gotten in and out of the car. They have walked to take and make phone calls, write letters, print recipes, shower and get in and out bed. So I figured having done all of this and more “my feet are tired” and deserved to have a rest in bed. I have had meetings about the Keith Hospital, at the hospital, in my car on the phone as a continuation on the fund raising journey such as typing recipes for the cook book, chased ‘celebrity chefs’ for their promised recipes and then had to clean my table/desk looking for a recipe sent from Matthew Primus – Coach of Port Power and to date I can not find it. Rats, I think I will have to go back and ask for it again. I have been thrilled with the response from people who are willing to help our cause.

Now that I am up, showered, dressed it is time to start my day, we have friends coming for lunch so there goes completing converting the bedroom to my office, but will enjoy a nice lunch instead. Perhaps sitting will stop my “tired feet” from dominating my thoughts, I am projecting my guilt and blaming my feet for my decision not to exercise and as I look outside it is now raining so it was a good decision. But all in all I did enjoy lazing in bed, now that I am up I have to use them to complete my day. Slippers where are you?