Friday, September 26, 2008

Get movin'! (me, that is)

I forgot to mention last week that I have started exercising on an elliptical machine we were given by some friends. They are cleaning out to get ready for a new baby. They didn't really like it anyway, but I don't get that, because I love it. I have never been able to get into treadmills, but this is different, and actually much better for you because of the low impact on your body. It's kind of like a stair master in a circular motion. I just moved it up to level 2, and am at about 15 minutes at a time now. I'm hoping to be at 30 min. within a few weeks. I like also that handle bars are movable, so you get a little upper body workout too.

When Kevin used to frequent the gym (several years ago now), he always said this was his favorite piece of equipment. I have wanted to try one since then, and it was one reason I agreed to fit it into this apartment. But that means it's not in a room I can just shut the door and forget about it. It's actually in the bedroom, so I'm pretty much constantly reminded. That's a good thing, though, considering just dieting doesn't seem to be working like it used to. I knew that day would come, and figured it would be about now, seeing how I'll be 31 the week after next!
Oh, man, that could be a whole other post, I think 31 is gonna be harder to face than 30 was.

Anyway, this also means no more excuses about not being able to go walk. It always seemed to be something. The weather, scheduling around Kevin's weird work schedule, couldn't take Ava or she'd whine the whole time about the playground equipment, or some other something. So now I'm determined to keep it from being a clothes tree, and make it work for me. I've found it's a great time to listen to more than just music, like books on cd, sermons on the radio (I listened to a Charles Stanley broadcast the other night), you can even prop a book or magazine above the display panel thing, but I haven't tried that yet. Not sure how that would work, might cause some kind of motion sickness like reading in the car.

But any which way, I hope I can keep it up, and do highly recommend this machine (or trainer as they call it), to anyone looking for a good cardio workout at home.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

What's Up?!

Ok, a month, really? I know it's wordless Wednesday, but I'm not allowing myself to have it that easy this wednesday!

Anyway, not too much all that exciting has been going on. I've been working on researching home school preschool programs for Ava (which I've been doing for forever it seems). Meanwhile, we've been working on some educational activities. Which, really we've been doing for a while. It seems I've always tried to incorporate educational activities as much as I can. I found a web site that has a list of what most preschools teach, and she pretty much knows and does much of it. We did just start working on scissors and glue(sticks). I think she has inherited my creativeness (if I can call it that), and she does well on computer games (which have taught her an amazing amount of stuff) like her daddy. She also loves to be read to and pretends to read telling a little of her own story, so I hope she will always have that love. I just really hope she loves and does well in math, unlike me. Kevin didn't love it either.

Another big hope for her education is that I can stick with the homeschooling. I've heard and known so many that have done so well having been home schooled. I tell you though, one of my biggest inspirations to really give it a go was the Duggars, you know the million kids family. The mom home schools them all, and I figured if she could manage all of them, I could handle one.

In other news, last week we made a trip to Memphis, mainly because I was craving good barbecue (although I did find another place here I want to try). We ended up on a bit of a wild goose chase for my favorite place, Whole Hog Cafe. When we got there we were met with a very sad sign (for two reasons), reading that they're general manager had passed away. The sign said they closed in January, but I was just on their website and they didn't mention it at all. So, we decided to try their other location (they actually have others in different states also), and it had been closed too, actually the place already for rent. Why they didn't mention that on the other location's sign I don't know. So, needless to say, we ended up going somewhere else, and not barbecue. I felt bad for them, but I was so disappointed.
Oh well, we may have to make a trip to one in Arkansas where they're based sometime. With gas prices as they are, that may be a while.:(