Monday 30 September 2013

September (Lack of) Fitness Update

To all my faithful readers I have to be honest. I have totally fallen off the exercise/fitness bandwagon that I had been riding since February. It started when I my back was out at the end of August and I didn't complete the 100 Day Burpee Challenge. When my back started feeling better around the 10th of September I didn't have any desire to start doing the last 15 days of burpees, so I called it quits. I should have immediately started working on my home work out routine that a personal trainer gave me before I was pregnant with LB, but I didn't. So to be truthful about it all.. I have been walking a bit with the kids, but that is it.

The last month our old house up north was for sale, we got an offer at the beginning of the month, but with it came conditions, and more repairs needed. This was more money we didn't really have, and trying to organize it all from 2600 kms away was very hard. Dealing with it was super stressful and I don't think I admitted soon enough how much of a tole it was taking on my emotional and mental health.

To add to that stress both kids have been changing their nap routines. LB has gone from being a very consistent napper early in the morning, and shortly after lunch to late morning naps followed by late afternoon naps, or only 1 nap. Monkey has stopped napping altogether (for the most part), which means  no R&R(or exercise) for me in the middle of the day.

When we moved to Calgary, one of my first goals was to find a gym right away, and now we have been here 4 months, and with only running 1 vehicle I am unable to get myself and both kids to a gym with childcare. (I suppose I could take the bus, but I'm not sure how that would go with having to keep both under control and by big stroller won't fit... and between naps, and LB eating almost continuously throughout the day it is hard to get out).

So there it is, September sucked. I didn't eat great, I didn't exercise at all, and I am emotionally exhausted from the stress of selling the house.

Here is the good news, the house sale is closing today, and starting tomorrow GeoDad and I will no longer be paying a mortgage and rent. We are going to recover and get caught up. And I am going to get back to focusing on my health and working towards my goals.

But I am not going to wait for tomorrow. I have finished my coffee, and I am going to go get dressed and do my first day of exercises from the personal trainer.

I am going to try to get through this set twice
Box squats 15
Walkouts 10
Toe taps 20 per leg
Bench dips 12-15
Lunges pulses 10 per leg
Opposite arm/leg lift 10 per side
Plank 30-45 secs
Knee push ups 12-15
Mountain climbers 10 per leg
Jumping jacks 30

Thanks for reading and being supportive. 

GeoMama

(PS. I know I said no more excuses in February, and I just gave a bunch today...  but at least I can pinpoint what was happening and why I was struggling.)

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Work in Progress: Sept 25

Good day everyone,
I wasn't sure I was going to get a chance to post today, but I have found a bit of time. I was at a wedding on the weekend out in Banff and since then I have been busy finalizing the sale of our house (lots of paperwork, phone calls, and running around, etc.). Over the last couple weeks I have finished a few more Farmer's Wife blocks bringing the total to 19. The next 2 I plan to do are easy with just squares and rectangles, but I haven't had a chance to get down the sewing machine in almost a week. Here are the new ones:
Block 12 - Broken Sugar Bowl
Block 70 - Prairie Queen
Block 62 - Old Windmill
Block 34 - Calico Puzzle
Block 111 - Wrench
Block 81 - Snowball

And all 19 together:


While I was out of town on the weekend I had a good chance to start stitching some of my white hexies together. I made my first row and bit on the way to and from Banff. I laid out the first row on my queen sized bed when I got home and decided 33 is the right number to go across.
First row!
After stitching the first row I decided it was time to redo my design layout of the flowers. Ever since doing it the first time I felt there was a couple flowers that were out of place, and that the whole idea needed to be mirrored. I was picturing the flowers falling toward the bottom left corner of the bed, and the way they were laid out they were falling to the right. Silly I know. But I had to change it for my own piece of mind.
Before mirroring layout
After, minus the top blue flower.
I added the top flower to the first row, then started adding my second and third rows.

2 and half rows done.


Pretty blue flower for the top of quilt. 
I will need to make some half hexies soon so that I can feel like the rows are actually finished as I add them. And I still need to baste lots more white hexies.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by to have look. I am linking up with Freshly Pieced.


WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Happy Sewing
GeoMama

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Work in Progress: Sept 18

I took a break from sewing Farmer's Wife blocks this last week so I could get GeoDad's birthday present together. He now has a fancy new double-sided apron and a pair of oven mitts. I should be able to call this a finish, but the thumbs in the oven mitts are very tight on him. I will be making at least one more that he doesn't have to pry them off.

I used the Man'Z Domain pattern from Wing and a Prayer. My favourite part of this pattern was the strap for hanging BBQ tools that sits as an accent piece in front of the pockets. We discussed using the pockets for beer and BBQ sauce. He is all set to grill.

The front, with pockets and tool hanging strap. Beer fabric from the Man Cave Line. Pocket is Kona Black

The back, no pockets and no beer fabric, perfect for the cooking greasy breakfast after a good BBQ night.

Monkey modeling the oven mitt.

I used 2 different breakfast  sandwich prints just to keep it interesting.

LB all covered in yogurt. This is the cheeky sort of grin I get when I look over at him while I type posts in the morning.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for Work in Progress Wednesday.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Thanks for stopping by to see what I am up to. Have a great week everyone.
GeoMama

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Work In Progress: Sept 11

It has been a couple weeks since I have had a chance to blog about my quilting. So here is what I have been doing. For my silly little hexagon project I now have a total of 430 white on white hexies to go with my 364 colored hexies already sewn into flowers. My rough estimate for the project is to end with a queen size top so I think I need 1000 more white ones.

I have done a few more blocks on my Farmer's Wife Quilt as well. Here are the 6 new ones.
Block 38 - Four Winds
Block 84 - Spool
Block 61 - Northern Lights 
Block 34 - Flock
Block 21 - Contrary Wife
Block 71 - Puss in the Corner

And all 13 finished together:

Its good that the colors of these blocks keep me happy because I am doing a lot of stitch ripping to get seams and corners to line up properly. 

Linking up with Freshly Pieced 
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Happy sewing and enjoy the last bits of summer.

GeoMama

Sunday 8 September 2013

Happy Birthday Little Buddy

My sweet little LB turned one this week. We took him to the Calgary Zoo for the first time and then had some family over dinner and cake.
Devil's Food Cake with mixed berry icing for filling, oreo cookie crumb coated tire and sprinkles in the box of the truck

He had a grin while we sang to him. He loves to hear us singing. 

He smeared cake all over and then finished eating his potatoes from dinner. 


He thinks the Little People Parking Garage is for climbing on top of.

LB was pretty exhausted by the time we had cake and opened presents, but I think he had a good time. It has been a crazy busy year, but we all got through it. I wish him all best as a 1 year old and I am so excited to watch him learn and grow this year.

Kisses for LB
GeoMama

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Week 24-27 Fitness & August Weight Update

I am not entirely sure what happened to August. It seems to have been frittered away. So instead of my usual quilting update today I am going to post my exercise/weight update. While I found that I did really well all of July with focusing on smaller portions and not snacking. I was stress eating again throughout August. Our house is for sale back in Whitehorse with no tenants in it. That means we are covering our rent in Calgary and the mortgage until it sells. I am definitely stressed about that.

Besides the house stuff being stressful, I am finding it hard to meet other moms/kids in my area of Calgary. We are only running one vehicle which is keeping me close to home as I have to walk anywhere I want to go. I know there are some community churches nearby that have play times during the school year, but that did not help me in August. Oh well.. hopefully soon I can find a place to take the kids to socialize more.

I am still working towards the 100 burpees of my 100 Day Burpee Challenge... but I am not going to finish on day 100 or day 105 ... I have been having trouble with my back again this last week. I picked LB up wrong or moved a box in the basement the wrong way last Wednesday and have been in major discomfort since. I am still trying to get out walking and have still been going to work, but with a major part of burpees being the pushup I am pretty sure I would get down to the ground and be stuck there with children crawling on me. I think a trip the chiropractor is in order, but I haven't found one here yet. I also feel like that if I didn't have to lift LB out of his crib first thing in the morning, the days would start off better.

As for the weight stats. I am down to 215 lbs (down 2 lbs since August 1, down 27 lbs total).  I have hardly been downstairs for the last couple days, and so I haven't done my measurements.

Here is what I have been up to since my last check in. I think that 60 burpees is a reasonable number to do in one day (4 sets of 15 is doable), but any more than that is a little ridiculous and makes my arms tired.

End of week 23
Aug 9: Walk with kiddos and dog, 65 burpees. Work in the evening.
Aug 10: 66 burpees.
Aug 11: 67 burpees.

Week 24:
Aug 12: 68 burpees. Walk with kiddos and dog. Work in the evening.
Aug 13: 69 burpees. Work in the evening.
Aug 14: 70 burpees. Walk with kiddos and dog. Tycho, the dog, is getting WAY better at walking on a leash. I have figured out the trick is to have her leash tied to my waist and only give her a couple feet of wiggle room. She also has to watch out for the stroller tire so she doesn't get run over.
Aug 15: 71 burpees.
Aug 16: 72 burpees. Work in the evening.
Aug 17: 73 burpees. Work all day.
Aug 18: 74 burpees.

Week 25:
Aug 19: 75 burpees. Walk with kiddos and dog. Work in the evening.
Aug 20: 76 burpees. Walk with kiddos and dog. Work in the evening.
Aug 21: 77 burpees. Walk with Monkey and the dog.
Aug 22: 78 burpees.
Aug 23: Feeling super run down and achy all over. I only finished 30 of the required 79 burpees. Not sure when I will make up the other 49... but I will figure that out before day 100. Worked in the evening.
Aug 24: Worked all day, then came home to do my 80 burpees.
Aug 25: Nice relaxing day at home with the kids and GeoDad. 81 burpees + 5 make up burpees for day 79.

Week 26:
Aug 26: 82 burpees. Walk with kiddos and dog. Work in the evening.
Aug 27: 83 burpees. Walk with kiddos and dog. Work in the evening.
Aug 28: 84 burpees.
Aug 29 - Sept 1: Ugh. Back is out again. It hurts to move and pick LB up out of his crib. I am still trying to get out walking to keep my back moving and I worked both Friday evening and Saturday.

Week 27:
Sept 2: LB's birthday event, we went to the Calgary Zoo. He was enthralled by the penguins and Monkey was more amused by sticks and rocks she found along the path than the animals. Nice long enjoyable walk. My mom got a pass for the year so I think we will try and get there more frequently.
Sept 3: Work in the evening. Still achy.
Sept 4: Not sure what I am going to do yet today, I am still finishing my coffee and getting breakfast for the kiddos. Today is LB's birthday and I will show a few photos later in the week when I get more organized with them.

Have a great month, and I hope that everyone reading is gearing up for a good school year. I hope that I    have maybe done a bit to inspire you to take a few minutes to do something healthy for yourself. I  am going to find more moms and kids to spend time with and will finish the silly burpee challenge. Then I am to work on finding a more varied fitness routine.  I am pleased that since starting to blog about my weight and keep track of what I am doing I have averaged a weight loss of 1lb/week. I am certainly not going to complain or get down on myself for the progress so far. Today is LB's first birthday and to be down 27lbs is a great start to meeting my original goals. With just needing to lose 3 lbs more to reach goal number 1, I think the next couple are totally achievable if I stay focused.

Thanks for stopping by to have a read.
GeoMama