Summer solstice

Well, summer is officially here by the calendar. It has been here for weeks by the thermometer. Went running this morning and the humidity was so bad. Couldn't breathe. Anyway, the mission trip I went on definitely got me off track excercise and diet wise, but I learned something from it, when I don't get proper exercise and food, it affects my entire being. From fatigue, attitude, emotions, everything!

Am getting back on track and can tell the difference already. However, it takes a while to rid myself of preservatives and chemicals and their effects.

Am watching the first Pirates movie with my kiddos and their friends. Have a lovely day!

June Update

Okay, well, Friday was the craziest day. I worked in our church office for the first half of the day. Everything kept going wrong. Wasn't my day. Then that night, I walked with our youth group all night long at Relay for Life. Our youth group alone walked 125 miles! Woohoo! I was part of that. Whew! Fun, but after going into it tired, it was exhausting. I have done this event for years and this was the most tiring for me.

Anyway, big news! Got a treadmill! Sweet! Now I can run and walk anytime. I am so pleased. With our crazy schedules, it was kind of hard for me to always have a chance to run and walk. I used it for the first time tonight. Wow! What a workout! It was so hard. I cannot believe the difference. It was way more strenuous. However, it really feels better on my feet. Keeps me at a constant pace too. Love it!

Now, no more progress on the knitalong. Cannot figure the pattern our. So I will need to go to the local yarn shop for help.

More to come!

Blessings!

June stuff

Well, day one went well. I did all the exercises and the weights yesterday morning. I cannot believe how great I felt when I got done! It was amazing! I really enjoyed the doing too. This high protein eating plan is going to be good too, I think. It is just so sensible and will help restore any decifiencies I had been experiencing.

This morning I went to running club, but only walked because I had to leave directly to go to a doctor visit and didn't want to be all sweaty. After the doctor, I went to our local running shop and got fitted for some really good running shoes! It was really a neat experience being fitted for them because there is so much to consider when buying a properly fitted running shoe. So, I am anxious to get out and run!

I still have the exercises and weights to do today, but will do them this afternoon as I have chauffering to do first. Mom duties come first sometimes, which is great!

Got the first couple of rows of my knitalong going and now I am stuck and have no idea how to proceed, so I may be making a trip to the local knitting shop for help today too! So frustrating not to know what I am doing. I guess I am just not good at diagram pattern reading and understanding. They only show a portion anyway.

Will post progress of fitnessy, diety, knitty sorts tomorrow or maybe even later today!

Have a lovely day!

June and new beginnings

Well, tomorrow is June 1 and I will follow a new excercise plan and eating plan for two weeks. I have been following the Daniel Fast and have really loved it. However, I am feeling the need for some major protein, so I came across this sensible plan by Jack LaLanne that I will follow for two weeks to boost my protein, but also have good healthy guidelines to go by. In addition to my running the couch to 5K plan, I am going to add an excercise plan to work out the rest of my muscles. I will record my progress here over the next weeks to kind of keep a record of things. And it is great for accountability!

We went to Dollywood on Sunday for the first time in years and had a ball. Went with a great group of friends and spent the whole day there. So much to do and ride and see. Even with all the walking and running that I am used to, my legs are tight as heck after all that walking! Wow! Plus I am not used to wearing my chacos for that length of time either.

I will be posting some pics that I have meant to put on here weeks ago, but never got around to. Pics of our doings and goings on since the last post. And now that it is summer, I want to become a regular blogger who posts nearly everyday! Just hard at times to find the time to get that done. I will try though. Got so many things to share including a knit-a-long that I am starting from Wendy Knits blog. I have never done one like this before and I think it will really challenge me.

Oh! Speaking of knitting and that sort of thing; I am seriously considering giving private lessons in crochet and knitting.

Other summer goals (or at least want them to be) are learn french, learn to weave, learn to play bridge, continue training for 5K, finish my knit-a-long, and become super fit! Using up all my yarn stash wouldn't be too bad either. Oh, and clean out the basement is a must. I will keep all this posted over the summer months.

Blessings to you who read this!

Spring

Well, after a long long time, I am back to my blogging. I just wanted to post a few things about my days so far in April. I had the destinct privilege of attending and being a part of the Rossini Festival in downtown Knoxville this past Saturday. I got to sit with fellow members of my spinning guild and spin Suffolk and Shetland cross wool. It was so much fun after a long hiatus from my spinning wheel. I was so pleased at the interest in spinning and also at the folks who had a pretty good knowledge of what spinning was all about. There was a very nice lady from Romania who stopped by with her husband and two small kids and shared some stories from her country. She said her grandmother spun all the time. When she was relaxing after a hard days work on their sheep farm, she would sit and spin. Spinning has been around a long time, but to the suprise of many, it is still quite popular today.

I also spent a great deal of time with our wonderful youth group at church setting up and running one of my favorite events of the year. Our annual white elephant sale. Love to see all the stuff folks bring in to sell and to see what people buy. There are always great stories that come out of an event like that and many old tales that would otherwise be forgotten. I think that is why we treasure all our old stuff, it helps us to remember our past and the past of others.

Planted 30 impatiens in my flower bed last week. Mulch goes in today. Hoping to grow a few veggies with my youngest son this year too.

Wrapping up, I even took a nap out on the porch last night since it was so lovely out. Warm and the birds were still singing after dark! Oh! Signed up for a couple of blogs on my Kindle today, so I may be pointing those out as well.

New Year

2009 was a good year in spite of a lot of crazy things that happened. February was the month that we became among the millions that are unemployed. Then in June while my hubby was in Alaska on a mission trip, my second son had to have an emergency appendectomy that was so complicated that he was in the hospital for three days. Then major car issues, then 5 stitches in same son's knee after a canoe trip. Major roof leak in there somewhere. Then fast forward to December where I went ice skating with the kids and fell and broke my arm in several places and required surgery complete with metal plate and ten screws! The day after Christmas my oldest son also had an emergency appendectomy! Luckily it went much more easily and he was home the next day. Whew! thought we were done, but 2010 is here and we have had a chimney fire complete with five fire trucks and a hot water heater that poured its little heart out all over and under the laminate floor.

I am not complaining though. God has been so good to us through all these crazy and sometimes scary events. Each time He surrounded us with His peace and love and blessed us so much through our family and friends and our wonderful church! God is good.

August

August brings for many, the beginning of school. Not so for us though. I still think of August as a long, hot summer month. Too hot for school. We always start school the day after Labor Day like it used to always be. It really works best for us. Locally, the public schools started yesterday. I can't even imagine. Too early. I do have some friends that like to start in the summer and take their break during Spring before the weather gets hot. For some reason, it just works best for us to have the nice long summer break when it is hot.

I am getting that fun feeling I get every year before we start of "back to school" though. I start thinking of all the plans we have for the upcoming year and get soooo excited. I am ready for a fresh start. I have always been that way. Even as a kid, I would get excited about getting back to school clothes and school supplies. I would have mixed feelings of course, wanting summer to never end, but still would be excited and a little nervous about the new school year.

So for those of you who are back in school, happy back to school! For the rest of us, happy August!
Blessings!