Baby, it's hot outside!

Is it hot where you live? It's hot here. Not as hot as it has been, but it's still pretty toasty.

Add to the fact that we live in GA and we have humidity on top of it all.

People say humidity makes it hotter.

Does anyone really believe that?

 Sauna or over, hot is hot!


Being that it has been so hot, I haven't been keeping up with my walking like I should. But, I've decided that hot or not, I need to walk. During the winter and fall times, I don't walk with water. During the summer, I cannot walk without my water. So, I've been drinking quite a bit  more than I usually drink. And because I'm drinking more, I'm noticing how much my family is drinking. Which isn't a lot.

The Man Beast was really starting to notice that Baby Girl hasn't been drinking hardly any. He wanted to create a chart to help her chart her water.

Today, after coming home from my walk, I did a quick search for some charts that I could print out to get her started while TMB solidified his idea of a water chart.

And I found this one:

photo credit: Kids Food Fest

 It's absolutely perfect! Here's how I made it my own:

• I added The Boy and Baby Girl's names to the chart
• I labeled each glass of water for the days of the week
• For the last glass of water, I labeled it "weekly total". The person who drinks the most for the week gets bragging rights
• I added an over-all goal of 8 glasses of water a day/56 glasses of water for the week

Here is my personalized version:

But I've already altered it - even after putting it on my fridge!

It dawned on me that the cup TMB uses to drink his tea (now water, because tea doesn't count) is different than the cup I use to drink my tea (now water, because tea doesn't count) is different from the cup the kids use to drink their milk at dinner.

So...

We're sticking with ounces. We are all going to try to get as close to 64 ounces a day (eight 8 ounce cups) with our own cups. That means that the kids technically only have to drink four of their cups a day. The Man Beast and I have to drink a little over three. If we go over - great!

Why the game/competative aspect? Shouldn't water have it's own rewards? Why would a non-competative family choose to do something so...competative?

Motivation.

Baby Girl gets a kick out of bragging rights. She's not a braggart, but she does enjoy winning.

As a family, we all need to drink more water. But as a family, we're supporting Baby Girl who isn't drinking hardly any water at all.

I can tell right now that The Boy and I are just along for the ride. We're going to settle for our four and three cups a day, respectively, and call it a day.

But it's on with the other two.

Until next time...

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Facebook Fast Update

It has been 24 days since I have stepped away from Facebook. How am I doing?

Pretty darned good!

I have discovered that I don't miss Facebook as much as I thought I would. I do miss the updates, though. At work, while walking down the halls, I'll hear teachers ask one another, "Did you see [fill in the blank] on Facebook?"

When they ask me, I have to tell them honestly, "Nope."

Since stepping away from Facebook, I've had to rely on getting my information the old fashioned way - word of mouth.

So, naturally, I am completely out of the loop.

This doesn't bother me as much as you might think, except when I go to church on Sunday and discover that someone is sick or someone has died and I don't know because I don't follow the news on Facebook. Then, I look a little insensitive when I ask what I've missed.

Overall, however, I'm doing okay without Facebook.

And for some reading this, you might be thinking, "What's the big deal? So you step away from Facebook for awhile. It's not that hard; just turn off your computer."

And to you I would say, "You are absolutely correct. It is as simple as that."

But I needed to do this to realign my priorities.

I guess I haven't stepped completely away from social media. I have browsed Instagram (it's quick and easy and virtually impossible to spend more than a few minutes on it a day when you just follow friends). And there have been times when I've shared on Facebook what I post to Instragram. But, if someone doesn't physically comment or like on Instagram, I don't see it.

So who knows all the goodies I'm missing out on. Facebook sends me an email every single day saying I have 35 messages and over 99 notifications. Friends and family have even tagged me (I get email notifications about that because I sensor anything that gets tagged on my page). But I have no clue what anyone has to say - good or bad. Someone could be blessing me out or encouraging me or congratulating me. I honestly have no clue.

Oddly enough, I'm okay about it all.

So, what I have been doing during these past three weeks:

• Catching up on some Bible reading: it's amazing the truths I've been able to uncover
• Keeping in touch with close family and friends via email and text
• Connecting with women from my church (although I would do this anyway, it's kind of nice to get information face-to-face rather than through a social media platform
• Running! Me, who swore she would never run. I'm training with The Boy using a Couch to 5K program. My school is hosting a Tiger Trot on March 8th. I will definitely be trotting (probably at a very slow pace, but I'll be there). Running is me bungee jumping out of my comfort zone. It's something I've never done and it goes hand-in-hand with my Bible study: Disciplines of a Godly Woman. What's more disciplined than training for a run (even if it is just 3 miles?)
• Losing weight! As of this morning, I am officially losing new weight. What I mean is that I weigh exactly what I weighed when I started working this August. What's more, I am only ten pounds from goal! I think that's pretty awesome, in and of itself. I've never reached this point before. It's taken me five years to get this far (let's say I've done a lot of do-overs!)

So, next Saturday, I can officially log into Facebook (did I mention Pinterest put me into protective mode? I've completely freaked out all of my social media sites!) Am I counting down? I can honestly say I am not. In fact, a friend who inspired me to do the fast (although she was doing it for 21 days) reminded me that she was able to go on today. By the way, she was completely unimpressed with what she saw.)

What now? Well, I can tell you that after "detoxing" from Facebook for a month, it'd be counter productive to go back to my old ways. It would be like me getting to my goal weight, only to resume the way of eating that got to me to my heaviest in my first place. (That was almost 200 lbs, by the way) Why would I do that?

However, when you give something up, you have to replace it with something (those quitting smoking chew gum - or eat; those wanting to lose weight substitute healthier snack options; those who want to stop drinking choose other activities). Why? Because if you don't have something to replace the behavior you want to stop/reduce/eliminate, it's going to come back (sometimes with a vengeance).

So what is my replacement activity?

Writing.

Looking back at old blog posts, some of them were pretty good. Others, particularly those I did while I was in school and writing research papers on a weekly basis, were pretty bad. But writing is an art that must be practiced. Back when my posts weren't too bad, I was writing more (journaling, mainly). Now - not so much. Furthermore, Facebook is getting all my wit, sarcasm, and "good stuff". No more. I'd rather put it into blogging.

Besides, I need something to wind down my days. Being productive is a whole lot better than being a bump on a log - wouldn't you agree?

Until next time...

God is watering His flowers

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When the kids were little, I would tell them that when it was raining,  God was watering His flowers. God has been watering His flowers a lot lately down here in Southern Georgia! I don't think a day has gone by over the past week where it hasn't rain at least somewhat.

Oh, the rain is fine by me. Aside from Girl Scout activities and various doctors appointments, I don't have a whole lot going on right now. I've been catching up on the house cleaning as well as some long-overdue Netflix movies. The kids, however, are a different story. They have had to get creative with their time since TMB and I have limited their screen time. But they are managing just fine being the resilient children I know they are.

The rain can be a damper (pun intended) when you're starting a new exercise. Taking walks around the neighborhood is a you-against-nature adventure as you brave fierce summer storms. Running will only get you wetter. (Really, Mythbusters proved it!) There's always the gym. Just hop in the car, drive down the street where treadmills, step climbers, various machines, and free weights await.

Of course, if you're a little low on funds, you have to get creative.

You can always create your own exercise routine: sit ups, push ups, squats, and jumping jacks. This is free and uses your own body weight: win/win. But, what if you can't do a sit up or push up? What if squats and jumping jacks really hurt (and not the PE-in-high-school hurt where you would try anything to get out of running that mile)? We can't all be Sherman Klump.

Thanks to a friend of mine, I discovered Leslie Sansone's Walk At Home program. She is a bit of a mix between Richard Simmons and Tamilee Webb from Buns of Steel. Leslie's Home walking program involves just four basic moves and her workouts range from a beginner's one-mile workout to an advanced 5-mile workout. The 3 Mile Power Walk that I'm currently working through includes hand weights for a brief upper body workout.

This workout is perfect for someone who is a beginner or who has the aforementioned knee problems. Or for someone who might be stuck at home by choice or by chance. I also like Leslie's DVDs because they are easily customizable. After completing a 3 mile walk, I could easily go back and add another mile or two (or three!) I'm a long way from a six mile workout - but it's there if I want it. I also recently discovered that Leslie has audio (tapes, cds, and mp3s) workouts so that when I'm ready, I can take a walk outside.

These walking workouts might not be for everyone. But Leslie Sansone does for people who want to lose weight and get fit today, what Richard Simmons did for people back in the 80s - she gets people moving. There aren't any complicated steps to learn or memorize. I have no rhythm. None. I can't dance. Not at all. But I can do a Leslie workout. And every day gets a little easier.

One day, I hope to get to moving outside. But until it dries up and cools off a little bit, I'll be walking in my living room, working up a sweat.

Tomorrow, I will share what I'm eating in my quest to get healthier.




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