I know, I know

It's been awhile. I have obviously lost some focus. I spent last week trying to relax and figure out why I can't stay motivated. I failed my healthy eating most days and only worked out one day. I think the main thing that was keeping me focused previously was my training schedule. I managed to follow that thing every single day. I did not always make the best eating choices, but I always did what the schedule said. With that in mind I decided to check out Hal Higdon's 5k training schedule. I didn't use his 5k training for my first 5ks, but I did use it and enjoyed it for my 10k. I thought I would be ok to just run on my own and follow my made up schedule, but if wasn't working. When I see it on the actual schedule I think, "well, Hal Higdon thinks I can run 3 miles today..." It is way more motivating than, "I think I can probably run faster today..." So I am excited for it. It's just something to keep me moving until the December 5k.

I am feeling confident again in my abilities to lose weight. I am slightly disappointed in myself since this is the last week of a weight loss competition that I signed up for and I have not given it my all. I think I am just not motivated by competition. I seem to have the opposite mindset. When I have a bad day, I go straight to, "Oh well, I guess I won't win the competition so I might as well eat ALL the food in the house." I am trying to forget about the competition for this last week and just focus on being healthy. I think it triggers something in my head that freaks out about a deadline and not making it. I am just trying to enjoy this journey, however long it takes me.

I did weigh in on Friday. I did not take a picture because I was so upset, but I saw 168.2. I was glad it wasn't back in the 170s but I was still disappointed that I gained. I knew that I would, but it sucked to see. I actually was surprised that I gained less than 1 pound.

Since we changed the clocks for daylight savings time, I have been exhausted. Little lady is not adjusting well and has been waking up at 5:30 most days. I can not function getting up that early. I think part of my lacking motivation is the fact that I am just so effing tired all day every day. (I can't seem to fall asleep for naps.) My mom had mentioned visiting this week because she had 5days off in a row. She started hinting that she would come if we needed a babysitter. I don't know if she didn't want to impose or if she wasn't sure she wanted to make the drive over. We don't need a night out since we partied it up pretty hard this past weekend (a topic for another post) so I had told her she was welcome to visit but we had no plans. This morning as my alarm clock little lady cried out at 5:30 I realized that maybe my mom wants some quality morning time with her granddaughter. I called her at 8am and hammered out the details. On Wednesday I am sleeping until after 7am. I can't wait!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Part 1:
Such a busy day here! Little lady woke me up early which I usually hate, but today we could use every extra minute we could get. My husband's grandmother had her knee replaced this week and we wanted to send something up to her with his mom. His mom was planning on heading up north Friday night or Saturday morning depending on when grandma would be released from the hospital. Hubby's grandma is doing so great that she will be released early tomorrow! I needed to bake some zucchini bread and find a way to get it to hubby's mom before tonight.
I made the bread as soon as little lady had breakfast. We got dressed while it cooled and then headed off with our fresh bread to our first playgroup meeting. Little lady had a blast! We will probably officially join as soon as we get back from our upcoming camping trip. It seems like something that would be good for us both.
After playgroup we made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things we forgot to get for camping. Then, we quickly headed up to the husband's mom's work. It is about a half hour away from here. We got there just before she left for lunch. Phew. She had just enough time to show off her granddaughter. :)
Little lady fell asleep in the car on the drive back home. Thankfully she stayed asleep while I moved her to her bed. Then, I tackled some of my chores.
I managed to get dinner in the crockpot, dust and vacuum the living room and head out for outside chores. We have a beautiful backyard, but there is a lot of upkeep in it. We have a nice pool and a decent garden. Unfortunately though, today is one of the saddest days of the summer. It's the day we close our pool. I love having a pool, but do not like vacuuming it. Today I had to vacuum the pool thoroughly. I can usually do an average job in about 20 minutes. Today's vacuuming took me about 45 minutes. It looks nice though. Then, I had to water and pick the garden. Two more zucchini and a red tomato. (This year our tomatoes will not turn red! We have gotten a few to turn red in our window, but this was the first official vine ripened tomato!)

Here is a picture of me and the little lady enjoying the pool this summer. I don't think I would have even allowed a picture of me in a bathing suit to be taken last year.

Part 2:
Shortly after little lady woke up the husband returned from work. I have convinced him to take the West Michigan "Bringin' Healthy Back" Challenge with me. You just have to commit to lose 12 pounds by December 31 and you are entered to win some sweet prizes. I just wanted to double our chances at sweet prizes. There are only 2 days that we will be in town for him to register so we all headed up for him to be weighed in. We came home to eat dinner together and spend some time as a family.
Once little lady was in bed, it was time for the pool. This is our third year closing a pool and I think we finally got it down.