Wait...week 10?! What happened to week 9?? (And, truth be told, we're already smack dab into week 11 already, soo..) Obviously, something happened in the Gentry house to keep me from blogging.
During week 9, we had some visitors--Troy's parents were here for a conference at the seminary. So I did great at my routines early in the week...but not so much at the end. So that's what happened to week 9.
THEN, on week 10--well, really at the end of week 9--almost the entire household got sick. Tayler came down with what was diagnosed as swine flu (although I'm convinced that Troy and Clayton had it as well but they only test people over age 2 who are special risk groups, which is why Tayler was tested and not them) and Tori & Cody came down with viral upper respiratory infections. Thankfully, I did not get sick, but taking care of 5 people very obviously is a wear on the system. Whenever I wasn't making a run to buy more supplies for the sickies, washing endless medicine dosage cups, TRYING to stay on top of the laundry (definitely lost that war--and now have Mount Vesuvius of laundry to tackle today), popping yet another movie in the borrowed TV/DVD player for the kids, or heating up I don't know how many pans of soup, I was in my bed completely dead to the world. And since some of the medicines had to be administered 'round the clock....well, it was like having a baby in the house again.
Thankfully, everybody is on the mend and working to get over lingering coughs and regain some strength, which means that it's time to once again pay some attention to my routines. Needless to say, I missed the weigh-in this month, and given how close we are to the end of the month, I will wait and weigh in on November 1.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Week 8 part 2
Wow. I should've just carried over from part one.
I didn't get any exercise in other than cleaning. BUT I did drink at least one 32 oz jug of water every day which is a HUGE thing for me. I'm supposed to be drinking two of them, but for now I'm going to be thrilled with the fact that I drank water each day and completely ignored, for the most part, the soda that was in the house. That is a big thing for me.
Now this week I need to work on my devotions, my exercises, and make sure that I am drinking two 32 oz jugs of water each day (a little tip for those, like me who aren't big water drinkers--add a couple of those Crystal Light to go packets to the water and you'll have flavored water. My particular favorite is the pink lemonade, but I'm going to try some others as well).
I didn't get any exercise in other than cleaning. BUT I did drink at least one 32 oz jug of water every day which is a HUGE thing for me. I'm supposed to be drinking two of them, but for now I'm going to be thrilled with the fact that I drank water each day and completely ignored, for the most part, the soda that was in the house. That is a big thing for me.
Now this week I need to work on my devotions, my exercises, and make sure that I am drinking two 32 oz jugs of water each day (a little tip for those, like me who aren't big water drinkers--add a couple of those Crystal Light to go packets to the water and you'll have flavored water. My particular favorite is the pink lemonade, but I'm going to try some others as well).
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Week 8 part 1
Since week 8 is split between two months, I'm dividing it up into two posts.
The flu (not sure if it was the swine variety or not) found our house over the weekend and keep this mama hopping and extremely worn out. Although I personally didn't suffer more than occasional stomach cramps, three of my poor children were sick, sick, sick! Between being up all night with them as they were sick on two occasions and sleeping with lights on in the bathroom on another, I really did not sleep much--at night that is. So during the day I didn't get anything done that I wanted to. Monday I did four, yes four, loads of laundry from the sickness over the weekend and gave the kitchen and bathroom and thorough cleaning. That is the literally the most exercise I got for this part of the week.
As I stated last week, I already plan to send in an extra $10 for the pot. I am praying that this next month has a better showing at the end of it!
The flu (not sure if it was the swine variety or not) found our house over the weekend and keep this mama hopping and extremely worn out. Although I personally didn't suffer more than occasional stomach cramps, three of my poor children were sick, sick, sick! Between being up all night with them as they were sick on two occasions and sleeping with lights on in the bathroom on another, I really did not sleep much--at night that is. So during the day I didn't get anything done that I wanted to. Monday I did four, yes four, loads of laundry from the sickness over the weekend and gave the kitchen and bathroom and thorough cleaning. That is the literally the most exercise I got for this part of the week.
As I stated last week, I already plan to send in an extra $10 for the pot. I am praying that this next month has a better showing at the end of it!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Week 6
At this point I'm planning on setting aside some extra $$ for the pot--and I'm getting pretty disgusted with myself! Why can't I stick to a schedule and follow through?? Why am I so perpetually LAZY all the time?! Argh! I'm getting really frustrated by my indifference to my own health. What is wrong with me? Seriously. Well, maybe some righteous anger will finally be enough to propel my hiney off the couch. The one day this week I actually completed my schedule I felt TERRIFIC! By 7:30 AM I'd had my devotions and did my walking DVD. I took a shower, actually making sure to wipe down the shower walls with a squeegee when I was finished so that more icky gunk would not build up on top of the icky gunk already cemented to the shower walls. I was on top of the day's load of laundry instead of letting it fester in the washing machine or being completely useless in the dryer forcing my children to yell for some clean underwear and me yelling back at them to just keep on the same pair. (Shocking, isn't it?) I lovingly fluffed and prettified my house. I prepared a reasonably healthy dinner for my family and ripped my shoulder muscles clean off my body on the Total Gym (well, at least that's what it felt like afterwards). By the time my head hit the pillow at the end of the day, I felt GOOD. So why do I blissfully ignore that feeling each day, that feeling of accomplishment and self-control (something I obviously lack or else I wouldn't be blogging about this topic right now)? I'm going to have to do some thinking about this and try to figure it all out, but not tonight. Please keep praying for me and encouraging me--those words of encouragement mean so much to me!
And since I promised to keep it real, here's the week's record-- 4 out of 7 days of devotional study, 1 out of 2 days of Total gym and 2 out of 4 days of walking DVD. Sigh. I hope to have some better results next week.
And since I promised to keep it real, here's the week's record-- 4 out of 7 days of devotional study, 1 out of 2 days of Total gym and 2 out of 4 days of walking DVD. Sigh. I hope to have some better results next week.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Aging Gracefully
I was paging through one of the many magazines I subscribe to (something I'll have to put on hold during my coming year's sojourn in Costa Rica) and I couldn't help but notice all of the articles and advertisements about "looking younger". As a 34-year-old woman who has always appeared younger than my years, I usually don't even give these articles a glance. But for some reason, this time it really annoyed me. Why are we as women so focused on looking younger? For that matter, men are guilty of this too. What's wrong with aging gracefully? Does looking younger (and let's face it: most of the older celebs who've been "freshened up" don't really look younger--they look SCARY. I mean, have you SEEN Kenny Rogers lately??) actually make us any younger? And why is it that older men are "distinguished" but women are just old?
Why stress about each gray hair? Shouldn't we at least be thankful that we still have hair? Why stress about each little wrinkle? Aren't they the hallmarks of a life of mirth and laughter? Why stress because once perky body parts aren't quite so perky anymore? After all, we're not Barbie dolls. Gravity does take its toll in the most interesting ways. Most women say that they wouldn't go back to the days of their youth for anything, so why do we vainly grasp at the way we used to look?
I absolutely love seeing pictures of Diane Keaton. She looks her age. She is graceful and elegant and beautiful, wrinkles and all. She takes care of herself (which we all should) but doesn't appear to go out of her way to look 30 again. I dearly wish more Hollywood actresses and celebrities would model this graceful aging mentality.
At any rate, I plan to keep all of my gray hairs--no coloring for me, thank you. I will not be purchasing miracle serums that promise younger skin overnight. I plan to keep those wrinkles, as I get them, moisturized and in plain sight on my face. During this process of developing a healthier me, I will not fret if my skin (or anything else) is not as taut or firm as it was in my younger, thinner days.
And I will certainly never shy away from telling people how old I am--even when my appearance has caught up with my age and I no longer look younger than my years!
Why stress about each gray hair? Shouldn't we at least be thankful that we still have hair? Why stress about each little wrinkle? Aren't they the hallmarks of a life of mirth and laughter? Why stress because once perky body parts aren't quite so perky anymore? After all, we're not Barbie dolls. Gravity does take its toll in the most interesting ways. Most women say that they wouldn't go back to the days of their youth for anything, so why do we vainly grasp at the way we used to look?
I absolutely love seeing pictures of Diane Keaton. She looks her age. She is graceful and elegant and beautiful, wrinkles and all. She takes care of herself (which we all should) but doesn't appear to go out of her way to look 30 again. I dearly wish more Hollywood actresses and celebrities would model this graceful aging mentality.
At any rate, I plan to keep all of my gray hairs--no coloring for me, thank you. I will not be purchasing miracle serums that promise younger skin overnight. I plan to keep those wrinkles, as I get them, moisturized and in plain sight on my face. During this process of developing a healthier me, I will not fret if my skin (or anything else) is not as taut or firm as it was in my younger, thinner days.
And I will certainly never shy away from telling people how old I am--even when my appearance has caught up with my age and I no longer look younger than my years!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Week 5
This was a much better week for me, as far as sticking to my schedule, or at least getting in the main goals I had for each day. I made time for my devotions every day (yay!), did my walking DVD 3 out of the 4 goal days, but was unable to work in any of my Total Gym days. I think I need to pick new days for that, or else have Troy set it up for me in the morning before he goes to work. Aiming for Tuesday and Thursday evenings after he gets off work is not cutting it--especially now that those are the days when the kids have their music lessons. So I'm going to have to do some thinking about when would be the best time for that and work on doing better this week.
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