C25KD1 aka Couch to 5K Day 1

Y’all!  I promise I am not going to post about every run I do (mostly ’cause there probably won’t be that many) but let me tell you – I’ve been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amuck!

Remember I signed up for C25K with the Y, yes?  Okay.  Last night was our first outing.  In preparation I downloaded a C25K app so I could see what I was in for.  The app outlined a 30 minute workout.  5 minutes of warm up, 20 minutes of run/walk, and 5 minutes of cool down.

Um, yeah.  Our group – there are 6 of us – met up at 6 to do the dang thang.  We’re led by some perky chick who could give the Kenyans a run for their money – she runs those crazy long races.  She’s also 7 weeks pregnant.  Heifer.  Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes.  We meet up and start with a 5 minute warm up walk.  I’m feeling this.  We then run. For 2 minutes!  Ma’am.  I just got off the couch.  Shouldn’t we ease into this?!?!?  What happened to the nice 90 second jog?  And we did all three miles!  I thought we’d start off with a nice 1 mile routine or something.  Nope.  We jogged/walked for an entire 3 miles.  Took us 42 minutes.  I wanted to cry.  My thighs are waging their own protest by refusing to function in the manner to which I have become accustomed.  By the time I regain feeling in my thighs it’ll be Thursday.  And time to run again.  Jesus, be some working quadriceps muscles.

 

 

Juicy, Drive ‘Em Crazy

See, what happened was…

I was bored at work last Friday. Everyone was gone and whatever work I had to pretend to do had long been accomplished.

So I decided to check out the offerings on Netflix. Scrolled over to the documentaries section and decided on two.  One was “Still Bill” and is about a musical artist I’ve always loved – Bill Withers.  If you get a chance, you should check it out.  He is one cool, cool dude.  Wait.  Where was I?  Oh yes, the other documentary was “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.”  Y’all!

Basically it’s about two dudes who lose a tremendous amount of weight and clear up all sorts of chronic and acute health problems by adopting a “juice only” diet for a number of days.

And now guess who’s going to do it?  Oh yeah, that’s right.  Your favorite blog-land nerd – moi!  I don’t need – or want – to lose hundreds of pounds.  About 10 will get me right.   So what I’ve decided to do is one meal + unlimited juice for a week.  After that I think I’m going to substitute the juice for one meal – probably breakfast.  In addition to the weight loss, I’m hoping consuming the additional nutrients will help me with my eczema – it has gotten increasingly worse over the last two years or so and I’d really like to chunk the topical steroids in the garbage.  I’m pretty sure they cannot be good for my health.

After some hints and suggestions from One From Philly (thanks again!), this is the juicer I’m going with – I’m just waiting for a 20% BB&B coupon to make its way to me.  As soon as I get the juicer, it’s a go.  I’ll let y’all know how it goes and if there are truly any benefits beyond the weight loss.

Do you juice? What’s your favorite combo? If you don’t is it something you’d consider??

If you’re interested, here’s the link to the documentary:  http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

And if you’re like my Mom and that link doesn’t work for you (O_O), here it is on hulu:  http://www.hulu.com/watch/289122/fat-sick-and-nearly-dead

Am I supposed to put some sort of disclaimer on this entry? This is my blog, no one paid me to push this movie, I’m certainly not making any money from it, and if I pass out ’cause all I’ve consumed is some celery juice, I promise not to sue.  How’d I do counselors??

You Gon’ Eat Yo Cornbread?

Confession:  I just watched “Life” for the first time last weekend.  HIlarity!  Moving on…

With two weeks of fasting under my belt – and one week to go – I have come to a horrifying realization.

I, Nerd Girl, eat a lot of crap.

Now my meals? Well balanced – more plant than animal, appropriate serving sizes and all that jazz.  I don’t fry anything I cook.  I’m not big on soda or juice, water is my drink of choice.  But oh, I can snack!

Usually I buy the same stash of snacks weekly at the grocery store – pretzels, Doritos, sandwich creme cookies, goldfish, Triscuits.  I thought between Lovegirl’s snacks and lunches she was consuming all of the snacks.  Um, no.

We have had the same bags of Doritos, goldfish and pretzels for two weeks.  The cookie container?  Nearly full.  Smoochy doesn’t snack at all.  That means either someone is breaking in in the middle of the night gorging themselves on snack food…or it’s me.

No wonder my thighs currently need their own ZIP code.  I’m not sure how I wasn’t aware of this before, but I really wasn’t.

As I prepare to come off of this fast, I’ve got to somehow figure out a way to enjoy my favorite snacks – but definitely in moderation.  Any tips? Tricks? Clues?  I was thinking of eating clean Sunday – Friday and going “wild” on Saturdays. Anybody done this??

(I’m down 6 pounds which thrills me to no end.  I’d like to drop another 7 and then tone and maintain)

NOTW: OPI's "Not Like The Movies" This is one of those color changing polishes - it photographs silver, but on my nails it's a silvery purple and sometimes a silvery green. Its okay, not a fave.

 

Big Thug Thizzle…And Other Weekend Occurrences

How was your weekend?  Did you party like a rock star?  Chillax the days away?

My weekends are never quite as chill as I plan them out to be in my mind.  But that’s mostly because until now, I’ve pretty much refused to do that 15/20 minutes of housework a day that’s supposed to leave your weekends free.  I think I’m going to try it – for real – this week and see if it works.  Do you break your housework up or do you jump up on Saturday mornings and tackle it all?

Saturday morning we hung around and cleaned up the house.  Lovegirl was not pleased with the amount of time and effort she had to put into cleaning up her rooms.  Yeah, that’s right, rooms.  In addition to her bedroom she’s taken over the guest room and between the two rooms – sister had a lot of work to do.  I’m hoping that this 20 minutes of dedicated housekeeping nightly will help her out too.  Anyway, then we ran errands – picked up a few more fall/winter items for her – including a pair of suede boots for that were unexpectedly on sale for $20!  Thank you Lord 🙂  We also picked up birthday presents for the next two weekends.  I’m telling you – this kid has quite a social calendar!

Saturday night we moved our maxing and relaxing over to Pserendipity’s house.  Where Tim and Smoochy got to talking.  About our blogs.  Now, Smoochy’s always known that I had a blog, but he’s never bothered to read it.  Tim?  Reads Pserendipity’s blog.  For real.  After much discussion about their aliases, they’ve decided they no longer want to be called “Tim” and “Smoochy.”  Um, Tim, your name is Tim.  Nevertheless, they’ve given themselves new blog identities.  You ready?  You’re not ready.  Tim would like to be called….Thug Thizzle.  And Smoochy?  Well, he wants to be called…Big Thug Thizzle.  So….please know that from here out, Smoochy shall be called BTT.

Tim Thug Thizzle also spent a good deal of time talking about how badly he and P whipped BTT and I last time we played spades.  Except they totally lost.  Every game.  I think he really thought they won!  Poor TT!!

Sunday was spent playing hooky from church (it was our church anniversary and…I really don’t like programs) and taking Lovegirl to a birthday party at a local park.  Initially I totally was not feeling the birthday party, but I must say, it was really nice and I had the opportunity to get in a few laps around the park.  So, all in all we had a great weekend!

I don’t think I’ve told y’all yet, but for the next year I will work diligently toward getting back into shape.  I will go to the gym a minimum of 3x a week.  I will make better food choices.  I will start lifting weights again.  I will tone up.  I will turn forty looking fab.  That is all 🙂

Lovegirl (who hasn’t requested a new name…yet) insisted that I get a picture of her in action yesterday.  Here, in all her glory, she is!

Man, I love this kid!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week’s manicure: Coalest Day of the Year by Barielle.  My ring finger bling is courtesy of Sinful Colors.

One of my favorite cool weather colors!

Ten on Tuesday

• Brrrrrr…..it’s cold out here.  Even though I feel like an old person when I discuss the weather, I’m going to do it anyway.  It is downright chill-ay!  I think it was 58 when I got up this morning and today’s high is only supposed to be in the low 70’s.  Fall?  Yes, please!
• Tropical Storm Lee hit with a slow, slow vengeance.  It rained for 3 days.  I slept for 3 days.  ‘Twas marvelous!  Except for all of the flooding that occurred – we weren’t affected, but I know that others weren’t so fortunate.
• You know who has no sense of urgency?  An almost 7 year old kid.  My child is slow as molasses in February.  S-L-O-W!
• My hair looks ridiculous.  I guess I should’ve expected to look like S.hirley T.emple since I spent 2 days with pipe cleaner curlers in my head.
• Speaking of pipe cleaners, I am shocked at how many people don’t know what they are.  People are forever asking me what I curl my hair with.  When I tell them pipe cleaners, a blank look takes over their face.  You wouldn’t believe how many times in a week I find myself saying “you know, the little fuzzy things that children do crafts with in Sunday School…they make little bug antennas with them…they come in lots of colors, about yea long….no?”
• Did anybody watch the game last night (Miami v. Maryland)?  Maryland truly has some of the ugliest uniforms I’ve seen in a long time.  On the other hand, I love the Oregon’s uniforms – hot!
• Who’s watching RHOBH this season?  I wasn’t going to, but tuned in last night anyway.  Well, I’d pretty much made up my mind to skip the madness, but then I saw the previews for the rest of the season.  I’m in!
• In case you don’t know – I did one hundred mother freaking pushups yesterday!  One hunnit!  And I still have 5 more pushup workouts to go…
• I made shepherd’s pie Sunday from a recipe I got at Jameil’s spot.  Smoochy loved it.  Lovegirl liked it.  Until she realized those were mashed potatoes on top.  She “doesn’t do” mashed potatoes.  I still haven’t had it, but it looks/smells good.  I’ll try it tonight.
• Smoochy was supposed to spank Lovegirl when he made it home this weekend.   He said he’d been talking himself up for two days trying to get his mind right to spank her and that he’d decided he was going to just close his eyes and swing because he couldn’t bear to look. Totally didn’t happen.  I.am.shocked.  #whodidimarry

Have a great day!!  Peace and blessings all around!

The Most Random of Randoms – Race, Wardrobe, and Reads

• Have you heard about James Anderson?  The black man who was beaten and then run over and killed by a group of white teens here in Jackson, MS?  Several of the teens’ supporters are crying “reverse racism” since the prosecutor has announced plans to pursue hate crime charges.  Reverse racism.  Really?
• There was a rally in honor of Mr. Anderson last weekend.  Another one is planned for next week.  My boss – a white man – asked me if it were okay if he went to the rally or if he’d be seen as an interloper.  I assured him it was fine for him to attend.
• Had a great exchange on race on the Twitter last night.
• We are in no way living in a “post racial” America.
• I was pretty excited to score some fall/winter clothes last night – two skirts, one dress, and a blouse.  I used a gift card and only paid $3.11 out of pocket 🙂
• I need a pair of black pants and maybe a pair of trouser jeans and I’m pretty much done shopping for the fall/winter.
• Speaking of pants and jeans, GAP is offering 30% of your purchase this evening between 3-7.
• Calvin Klein dresses fit me really well.  I’ve been stalking the local TJ Maxx stores waiting for the “new” fall dresses – found one in putty, going to the other store in hopes of copping a purple one.
• Lovegirl wholly approves of my new purchases – particularly the dress.  She said “Mama, you look like a woman.  Fantastic!”  Thanks.  I think.
• I also ordered two pairs of shoes.  You would not believe how hard it is to find a pair of basic black pumps in a size 12 for less than a gazillion dollars.  Thank you Nine West clearance sale!  Now let’s hope they fit.
• Did I tell y’all that Sinful Colors are on sale for 99 centavos at W.algreens?  Well, they are.  I limited myself to 5 bottles, but I think I’m going back today – I’ve been wanting to try a yellow and I figure at this price point I’ve got nothing to lose.
• I really enjoyed the book discussion on Monday.  What y’all want to read next??  Let me know – I guess we’ll discuss in early September?

Okay, that’s it.  I hope everyone has a great day!

I lied – one more thing.  I tried the rowing machine at the gym on Tuesday.  OMG!  Who knew?  I got a serious workout that I’m still feeling today.  Love it!

My Soul to Keep

Well, well, well.  Where to begin?

I almost gave up on this book.  Several times.  It started off soooo slow.  I had a very hard time getting into it and honestly, if it had not been for Jameil’s encouraging me to continue, I’d of put it down and walked away.   But boy am I glad I hung in until the end.  Loved it!

After digging around a bit on the internets I learned that My Soul to Keep is the first book of a trilogy by Ms. Due – I definitely plan to finish the trilogy as well as read Ms. Due’s other books.  I love discovering “new” authors and am glad to have found Tananarive Due’s talents.

And while I realize this is particularly trifling of me, I don’t really feel like doing a review/synopsis of the book this early in the morning, so just head over to the comments and let me know what you thought of it.  Okay?  Okay!

So…what’d you think about the book?  Who was your favorite character?  Why?  Did you think about immortality as you read?  Do you think you’d want to live forever?  Why?  Why not?  Did you “like” David/Dawit?  What about Jessica?  I’ll try to answer these questions in my responses to your postings.

Oh, and today’s weight – 170.4.  Down 1.6 pounds from last week.  Oh yeah, I’m smiling 🙂

Monday Randoms

• Good morning, good morning, good morning!
• My weight?  Right back up to 171.4.  I managed to gain back every single ounce of the weight I lost week before last.  😦  But, I’m not surprised.  Chick-Fil-A, Zaxby’s, IHOP, and Ding How Chinese Bistro all in one week…yeah, all the exercising I did was no match for my crizzappy diet last week.  Back in the saddle I go!
• Project clean-up-the-house continued this weekend.  I ran across a desk nameplate that Smoochy bought me to celebrate my second real job after college.  Sweet huh?  Except for the fact that he bought it about 8 months before we got married and it had my maiden name on it.  I really and truly thought the man was trying to call it off.  Yeah, I flipped.  Oops.
• Babs, if you’re reading this?  I howled when I read your comment on “Incognegro!”  I mean howled!
• Signed Lovegirl up for another session of swim lessons.  Figured we’d better strike while the iron is hot.  Her being in the pool is also a built in guarantee that I’ll be working it out consistently in the gym for the next two weeks.
• Speaking of fitness, a friend and I are doing the 100 pushup challenge again.  Join us?  Today’s day 1 – no catching up required 🙂
• I’m cleaning up/planning to decorate (for real this time) in anticipation of starting a PhD program next fall.
• I have been soaking my locs in coconut oil nightly to try and bring them back to life.  They feel better, not great, but much better.  I’m going to a loctitian the first week of August to have them professionally tightened, styled, and maybe even dyed.  I think I’m tiring of the gray.
• I was irate yesterday while trying to get my oil changed at the local WMart. The manager and I had a long discussion – well, I discussed, he listened – and I got a $25 gift card for expressing my concerns. Yay!
• I’ve decided after all of the horrid news over the weekend, I’m back on a news-viewing strike.  Y’all let me know if anything major happens this week…
• Oh, if you’re participating in our next book club, go ahead and try and get your book ASAP.  This one wasn’t available electronically as far as I could tell nor was it at the library or local bookstore (Borders…) so I had to order it from Amazon.  I hope it gets here soon!

That’s it for today – I’ve got work to do this week and I hope to take Friday off to do some back-to-school running around sans Lovegirl.

Babs?  This is for you 🙂

Smoochy and Lovegirl. In the flesh. Kinda...

August Book Club & Other Stuff

• Anybody out there ready for another book club discussion?  If so, join us as we read and discuss Tananarive Due’s My Soul To Keep.  We’ll discuss on August 15.  Cool?  Cool.
• If there’s something you want to read and discuss next, just let me know.
• Did y’all see Serena’s assets at the Espy Awards?  Oh my damn.
• Lovegirl finally got to start her swim lessons last night.  Evening thunderstorms resulted in her M, T, and W lessons being cancelled.  My little guppy was so excited to be in the water!  She even got over not wanting to get her face wet – we’re making strides!
• Thank you Lord for swim caps.
• I worked out at the gym three times this week and plan to get in another workout before the weekend is over.  I hope to see a difference on the scale – no matter how small.
• Today I get my first bi-weekly paycheck.  I’d really, really like to go back to being paid once a month.  This 1/2 check madness aint hitting on…well, you know.
• I’m ready for football.  NFL can act a fool as long as there are still college games I’m good!  I think we’re going to get JSU season tickets this year.
• This whole debt-ceiling thing is really, really working my nerves.  I’d like to go to D.C. and do a clean sweep of the House and the Senate.  Democrat, Independent, Republican – they all suck.

Okay, that’s it.  I hope y’all have a great weekend.  I plan on doing a whole lotta nada.  Operation “get my hair back soft” is in full effect – I’m trying the Carol’s Daughter stuff One From Philly suggested in the comments a few weeks back – hope it works!

One more thing – y’all like these shoes?  Yea or nay?

Yea? Nay? What do you say?

Oooh Oooh And I Like It

So yeah, didn’t have an exciting weekend to come back and impress y’all with.  Had a good one though.  Lovegirl did…okay in her Children’s Choir debut.  She swayed, clapped and sang through the first two songs.  On the third song she added the requisite tears.  But she wants to sing again next month, so I’ll consider it a success.  Yesterday’s sermon was really really good.  Pastor spoke on falling in love with Christ all over again – really timely and relevant for me.  And Smoochy’s been to church two Sundays in a row.  Which is nothing short of a miracle.  Seriously.

So what shall I blog about?  How about 5 6 things I’ve really been digging lately:

This recipe for chai concentrate.  I made it for the first time this weekend and will get at least 6 cups of chai out the deal.  And since it only cost me about $2.00 (I bought the spices from the bulk section of the health food store) it is way more cost effective than a $4 chai from the coffee stand every few days.  It is a little weak for me, so I’ll tweak the recipe – let it steep longer, use a little less water, etc., but this is definitely a keeper!

MAC’s “O” lipstick.  Best every day color ever.  Wish I could find a less expensive dupe – anybody know of one?

N.ike’s NTC training app.  Free?  Check.  A variety of workouts?  Check.  Hard as heck?  Check.  Between this and J.illian, I’mma be right!  Sooner or later.

Chimes ginger chews.  Sweet heat goodness.  Love them!

T.arget cardigans.  They’re inexpensive, come in a wide range of colors and I’ve found them to wear and wash quite well. 

T.rick D.addy.  I guess I’m having some sort of flashback but lately T.rick D.addy has been in heavy rotation.  Baby ’cause I’m a thug!!  All day every day!!  Except for the fact that I’m totally not.

In the spirit of AR Gal, I leave you with another T.rick D.addy classic…