P90X Update

I'm back on the P90X wagon.  It wasn't like I really meant to quit, but when the only room in your house that you have ample space to workout in, literally has the floor torn out, it is kind of hard to keep up the routine.  So, I did the first 3 1/2 weeks of P90X Lean (the more cardio, aerobic focused program), quit for 3 weeks, and am currently back to it.  I wasn't sure if it were better to pick up where I left off or restart the program.  I opted for restarting.  I am now currently starting week 4 of the P90X Lean program.

Here's the thing:  I think I am becoming slightly obsessed.  If it gets to be midnight and I haven't found time in my busy schedule to complete my workout, I do it then.  At midnight.  The day we got our carpet put in the basement, I skipped doing my Legs & Back routine because the carpet guys were in there all day and we moved furniture back in (which I figured really could COUNT as my legs and back workout), but I felt guilty as all get out the entire time I tried to fall asleep that night, even in to the next morning.  The thought of skipping a day makes me feel guilty.  I can't let my main man, Tony Horton, down!

Here's some good news:  I have lost 13.8 lbs in the first 3 weeks!  Really it's probably closer to 15 lbs., since I've eaten and apple and steamed rice and am fully clothed today (Yes, I LITERALLY just weighed myself), and the first time I weighed myself before starting it was first thing in the morning, wearing next to nil (sorry for any visual that may have occurred... yikes).  WOOT!  I know it will slow down tremendously as my body adjusts but 13.8 lbs. averages at 4.6 lbs. per week and that is definitely motivation enough to keep going!  Not that the thought of Tony Horton being disappointed in me isn't motivation enough. 

Do you all know the P90X program?  If not, I'm sorry because you have no idea what I'm talking about and are probably asking yourselves, who the H (F for my more vulgar friends) is Tony Horton?  He's the p90X guru, folks.  You can link to the P90X site at the top of my blog or here, if you want to know more about what I'm talking about.  I just always assume people know because there is a P90X infomercial on every six seconds.

Anyway, I'm off because I need to get in my YogaX before I go plan my afternoon counseling sessions and that shiz is 90 minutes long so I need to get to it! 

Goose Goose GooseGooseGoose

I don't have to work today so that means that you all get to read a new blog!  Yay for you!  I guess technically I did do some work emailing this morning but other than that I get the day off.  We had tornado sirens and storms this morning so I was looking forward to a nice relaxing day of reading and being lazy.  NOW the sun has decided to come out so I suppose I will have to go out and take Kaiah for an adventure.  I suppose that's good... for both of us.  Either way, I was REALLY looking forward to being a lazy P.O.S. today.


Note to readers:  I'm going to start back up the YESS book club.  I know that I no longer work at YESS, but I like you gals and it's going to happen whether you like it or not.  Expect an email soon.  Also, let me know if there is anyone in the DSM area that is not a former member that would like to join.  [Perhaps one Ms. Kaci Sloss... :)  I would say that you fit both qualifications, but let's face it... being an employee at YESS is no longer a qualification. (The other qualification is that you read, of course... and that you're not annoying, so I guess there are three.)]  P.S.  I WILL be posting these aforementioned qualifications in the email, so be prepared to meet the needs of the group.  Also, any group members with requested qualifications, please notify me ASAP.

I've decided that starting up the book club again only makes sense (for me, personally) since I should be reading at least 4 books per month.  Why not make one of them a book club selection and get some of my favorite socialites back together?!  Let's face it people, you are the main reason I worked there as long as I did (no offense to YESS or it's uninvolved employees!)  :)

I feel my blog has been lacking in the picture department lately so let me leave you with this wonderful picture that Kaiah posed for so that we could try out mobile blogging (which failed miserably several times).  That means you get to see her show off her goose now.  :)

Recommendations!

If you aren't following my other blog yet, then you wouldn't know that I am asking for any and all recommendations for an entrancing premier book for my challenge. Help me out folks.  Go to my other blog and post what you think I should start my reading extravaganza out with!

Much love!

A New Goal. A New Blog.

I've started a new blog friends!  I am going to attempt to read 50 books in the next year.  Read about it in my very first post on My New Blog.  Check it out!  I am taking any and all suggestions to help me complete my goal!

"Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do."

So, I thought, "Hey... I haven't written a blog for like a week, so maybe it's time."  It turns out maybe not.  I've been sitting here for a few minutes now and realized I don't have ANYTHING to blog about.  Kaiah and I ate sweet potato fries for lunch... is that blogworthy?  (They are one of my favorite snacks and it turns out that they're possibly one of Kai's favorites too.)  I'm working on cleaning my house today... what about that?  I need to go get new print cartridges and dog food at some point today... any of this interesting to you?  Sorry folks.  Turns out I'm boring.  Who knew?  Meh, maybe you all did.  I guess I thought I was the only one who was aware of this completely useless knowledge.

Here's something of some importance.  I have to work tomorrow.  Yep.  I said it.  WORK.  Back to the ol' salt mine.  This may not seem like very blogworthy news to any of my few but faithful readers, but it is news.  For those of you that don't know I have practically been a hermit for the past 10 months of my life.  (With the exception of a nice little week-long stint in October.)  It wasn't because I didn't want to work. (Well, let's face it.  Nobody wants to work.  Or maybe you do... in which case good for you.  Please enlighten me as to where I can get a job that I love well enough that I would rather do that than play with my dog all day.)

I thought that I wanted an entirely different career path.  I think I got burned out hardcore working at my previous job.  Don't get me wrong, I loved working with the kiddles and LOVED my coworkers (and still do!), but that job was taxing.  I decided I was going to look for something different.  It turns out that when you've worked with children, the elderly, or just people in general for your entire life, it's hard to just break on to a new career path without going back to school or having to flip burgers or bag groceries.  So, I'm going back to doing a job that is pretty much the same thing that I was doing before.  And that's okay.  It's a new environment and the clientele will be a wee bit different.  Plus, I've had a nice stretch of time to get away from it and just breathe.

Bonuses of going back to work: 

• More $$$, of course!
• I can talk to people during the day again!  (Without having to go to the grocery store!)
• I get to help people again.  (Let's face it, when it comes to work that's all I've ever done and known.)
• I don't have to listen to Kaiah bark all day...  (Bittersweet)  :(
• I get to meet new peeps!  You know I always like new people!
• I will (hopefully) eat better & snack less!  [I won't have my cupboards right in front of me to scavenge through when I'm hungry (or bored, for that matter).]

Damages of going back to work:

• Loss of free time/freedom.  (That's a doozy.)
• I'll miss my little Kaiahroo!  (Ever since she came into our lives, one of us has been home with her for the most part and now she'll be all alone during the day.)  :'(
• My house will no longer be the cleanest house in Des Moines!  (Not that I won't still clean but seriously, if I'm working all day I'm not going to want to come home and clean.  I've been cleaning every day for the last 10 months, for the most part!)
• Not as much gourmet cooking!  (I'm not going to want to come home and put a huge effort into dinner when I can make something simple quickly.)
• I'm going to work out a lot less.  (I've all ready begun to realize that I will fail at keeping this up.  Being a "housewife" is a full-time job the way it is.  I've got a man and a dog that are both extremely needy, so I'm no longer going to have a lot of "me time".)
• I'm going to have to start getting dressed again.  Damn.

That's it.  That last one just put me over the edge.  I've decided NOT to return to work.  I kid... but only kind of. 

Oscar Wilde said it best, "Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do."  Eek, Mr. Wilde... some of us just need the CASH.  :)

The Perfect(?) Trifecta

Isn't it funny how life never quite works out the way that you imagined it would?  I know this seems a cliche way to start out today's blog, but I've been doing some soul searching this morning.

"Life", or what you pictured for your life, continues to get pushed further and further down the line.  (I guess it also comes a lot sooner than planned for some people, but not me.)

As a child, I thought I would be in a house & married, with a puppy at home and a child on the way by the age of 25.  As I got older I still wanted all of those things; it just got pushed back to the age of 28.  In January of 2009 (25 years old), I had a steady boyfriend, but other than that I was in no way on my track to make it by 28.  Now I'm 27 & it appears as though I'm almost there.

I've got the house:

The boyfriend has proposed:

I've got the puppy (In front of our refrigerator.  So tiny!):

who is now a dog (95 lbs. of dog!):

Yet it's still not right.  Why is it that everyone continues to strive for perfect when perfection is nearly impossible?  I've got the house.  I've got my fiance, Jack.  I've got my "puppy", Kaiah.  (I guess it's time to start calling her my dog, huh?)  The only thing missing is the actual marriage itself and the child (which, thank God, we are in no way ready to make that goal).  And yet, I still feel so far from where I wanted to be another year from now.

I guess as a kid you don't think about things like financial stability, job security & stress (Oh, the stress...) or even general happiness.  You think that those things are just an automatic bonus that comes with the territory.  I mean, if you have a house, you must have a job and you must be financially stable, right?  And you have the "perfect life", so you must be happy and stress free, right?

Is it just me?  Am I being completely pessimistic?  I mean,  a lot of people are in the same boat as I am, right?  RIGHT?!?! 

It's that strive for perfection.  It's being goal-driven.  It's making the decision to go down that path that you've always wanted since you were a little girl, even if, in retrospect, you were a bit hasty about the leap.  It's forcing all of those things into the last year (or so) of my life.  Feb. '09: Engagement.  May '09:  House & Puppy.  May '09 - Present:  Dealing with the aftermath of all of those decisions.  The perfect trifecta.

Don't get me wrong.  I love my fiance, Jack.  I love my house.  I love my dog, Kaiah.  What I don't love is people constantly asking me about wedding plans (since we have been engaged for 16 months and haven't made a single plan), paying bills (or stressing over whether we can pay the bills), & barking and slobber.

The funny thing is, it's all worth it.  I love Jack.  We fight, as every couple does, but we also laugh.  A LOT.  I get stressed paying more for a house and having all of those extra expenses that you don't have with an apartment, but it is so worth it.  I get sick of listening to barking and cleaning up slobber, but it is nice to know when someone is coming to the door, and it is wonderful to get the little girl puppy kisses.

Life is funny like that...