Shred Challenge - final thoughts

Okay, I'm well beyond my 30 days of Shredding.  I thought I'd come in with some final thoughts and statistics.

Do I love working out any more than before?  No.

Do I have a new love for Jillian?  Not really.

Have I noticed changes?  YES...energy, clothing wise, even my skin looks better!

The results:

• Total Weight loss = -1.7 lbs.  This doesn't seem like much - but I can see a massive change.  I lot of my blubber changed into muscle.  Don't be dissapointed if you do this workout and don't see your scale moving much
• Waist = no change
• Chest = +1.25 inches (hell yeah!)
• Hips = - 1 inch (hell yeah!)
• Thighs = - 1.25 inches (hell yeah!)
• Calves = + .5 inch (oh yeah!)
• Biceps = + 1 inch (yeah baby, yeah!)

So...now what?  Well, I honestly haven't gotten off of my butt for the last few days...busy with life. There's also a major change to my work schedule starting - and I'm already waking up at 5am.  I will NOT be getting up at 4 to exercise.  I'll have to figure something out though.

I still can't decide if I love The Shred or not.  I certainly like the fact that it's short...long enough to make a difference short enough to be over quickly without being bored out of my mind.  I'm debating whether or not I'll do a level a day or something...I just hated level 2 so much.  All in all though, I'd highly recommend buying this video.
I really like Jillian Michaels: Yoga Meltdown - that's a workout/relaxation in one (and Jillian's not yelling at you).
My friend gave me a dvd to try -- it's Lindsay Brin's CORE Fitness which I hear is tough...I may try it...or it may gather dust.

I'd sure as hell like to enjoy working out.  I really want to want to get up in the morning and do it. Thing is, I'm lazy...lazy, lazy, lazy.  And lately, I've been making excuse after excuse to not do these things.  Am I just in the wrong place right now?  Maybe.  Or maybe God just intended for me to jiggle and shake.  Who knows?





PS. Blogger has completely changed the layout of blogging. I really like it!! Maybe I'll have a couple of posts testing out the new features!

Judge not lest ye be judged

So I've written many times about my struggle with keeping my teen on a straight path. He's a tough cookie, and stubborn (don't know where he gets that from)...but deep down, he's a good kid.

Then it came. Freedom. I'm not going to get into the details but suffice it to say, I lived through them myself at his age.

This is what's sad though. All my life with him, I have touted again and again the importance of getting your education. "Don't be a drop out like me!" are words that I've said thousands upon thousands of times.

Yet, day after day, I get reports of him failing to show up at school. I've talked to the teachers, I've talked to the counselors...and at this point they're saying "he has to make the decision."

I get that -- I really do. But the problem is that he won't make a good decision. He will make the huge, epic, failure of a decision that I made at his age.

We've had a touch and go relationship since the last blow up when he left home -- and facebook was my way of keeping tabs on him. Today I made the mistake of commenting on his status which was something like "F****ing kids..all talk, talk, talk, with nothing to back it up. F***** faggots" (or something to that effect. Yeah...proud moment for this mama. So I let him know it. I responded with "Wow. A drop out and now a bully....boy am I proud. :("

He removed me from his friends list.

I know it's pathetic, but I was really hoping that we'd be able to reconnect. We'd have some serendipitous moment of togetherness where we'd sing and dance together and flowers would rain down on us as God smiled on our reunited and happy family.

I know it wasn't likely to happen. But good God...I raised him better than that! I did not raise him to be a racist, I did not condone his rude and belligerent behaviour. This is not the child that I raised!!

It really hit me today -- reading that lovely little status of his. I used to see people on the news; people who'd been harmed by someone shouting at the offender's family "What did you do to him? Why is he this way?" And I'd judge. I'd sit there in the comfort of my TV with the remote in my hot little hand, and I'd judge those families. She must never have held him. They must never have told him they loved him. I bet they were never even around and he was left to fend for himself.

Well -- now it's time to be judged. I am the mother of a delinquent. Oh -- he may not have done anything illegal (yet) and he may never...but he is a delinquent all the same. Disrespectful, rude and ignorant -- and completely opposite of the child that I raised.

Where did I go wrong?

About a mom...

This weekend was amazing. It was Inspiring. Emotional. Moving. It was more than I ever thought it could be, and I'm not allowed to say anything more than that. Boo.

But -- while I was gone on this amazing adventure -- my mom was here watching my kids. She's a really great woman. She's the type of grandmother who buys my kids crap that they don't need just becuase she knows they'll have fun. Whether it's clothes or toys, used or "first hand" as my son calls it - she's the grandma who's taken the position of spoiling.

So, this weekend she spoiled me. She cleaned off my kitchen counter - which wasn't horribly bad, just a little disorganized. She dusted (I hate dusting) and she did laundry.

Yup -- you read that right. She messed with my schedule...she did laundry for my kids based on *gasp* lights & darks!!!

I came home and see her folding some laundry. Whites with pinks and yellows and light blues...and my OCD went into overdrive. I do my best to say thank you (did I really say the words??), I calmly go over to my fridge and pull of the schedule to show her. It's posted on my fridge, over each child's laundry basket, AND in my laundry room. This schedule is my life!!

It turns out, according to my friend's mother (who was with me) that I, apparently, overreacted. Me...overreact? Well...yeah, I guess I did.

I mean, yes, it helped. True, I don't have half the amount of laundry as I'd normally have. Granted, my kids didn't die becuase their whites weren't given the extra boost of BAM! Oxy Clean...but I know...you see? I know!!

So -- I blow my top...well, okay, I didn't really blow it...maybe popped is a better expression...that was Saturday....so Sunday comes (and I'm busy again with things that I am not yet able to mention) and when I come home...once again -- she did MORE laundry!



Eeek.

(how pathetic is it that I have to do deep breathing at this point just to continue blogging??)

Oh - she also let my kids eat all over the house...in the living room (only allowed when LOST is on), in the play room (NEVER EVER allowed). Do my kids pipe up and tell her this?? no, they do not. What do I find this morning? A plate full of half chewed cantaloupe (thanks Adam), yogurt drips on my couch that have hardened over and crusted (thanks Isaac) and candy wrappers stuffed down between the couch cushions (thanks Iman).

My mom gets emails of my blogs automatically -- so I don't want her thinking that I'm ungrateful, because nothing can be further from the truth. She's probably at her desk right now laughing and confirming her co-workers thoughts that she really is a crazy old bat.

Oh -- and mom...I never did find the straw!