Just having a goal is not enough. You (when I say "you" I mean me , but if you'd like to listen in go ahead LOL) need to have an action plan as to how you will achieve this goal. There must be organization and follow thru.
I am not completely lost, but I feel I need more structure. My life is busy and if things are not cemented in a organized plan and even written out, they may not get done, OR I don't get as much satisfaction from visually checking them off my cluttered list. So, even tho I may be accomplishing what I set out to do, unless I can see it crossed off a list, I will not feel like it was actually done and it remains on my mental to do list, thus decreasing my sense of accomplishment.
So, I must make a workout schedule, plan using the calendar, write down the days I will workout, and what I will be doing.
Food can not be left to chance or last minute decisions of "what am I a gonna eat?" Plan it, Pre-Cook it, Cook in bulk.
So, I must clean out my fridge, so that it is organized, and has room for my pre cooked food, and also frees up some plastic containers for my new food LOL! And , plan a healthy shopping list of things I will need.
I am much more productive with a list, a plan and a schedule .
My Best friend Sarah got married last week, and I had the honour of making her wedding cake, and being in the wedding party.
When she asked me to make her cake I wanted to give her the cake of her dreams and wanted very specific details from her. But I kept getting :
whatever you do I'm sure will be amazing"
I wasn't comfortable with that so I asked for pictures, concepts etc. She gave me 2 pictures and said
" if these 2 cakes had a baby, that would be my wedding cake"
??!?
So I did my best and she loved it! Phew!
However, due to complicated circumstances she was not able to have a reception but only a small dinner for 20 people, which doesn't require a lot of cake. So I made the top 3 layers of her cake with styrofoam rounds and the botom layer was big enough to feed her guests so that she could have the size and grandeur of the cake she wanted without wasting excess cake.
BUT
We are planning a surprise reception for her and 150 people in a couple weeks and I need to recreate this cake! Thank goodness I can save the top 3 phony layers, (which I so graciously offered to take home and look after while she went on her honeymoon LOL! ) so I just have to bake 2 more larger tiers to go on the bottom. Yay!
She wrote me a note in the front cover, and she gave me a package of multi coloured post-it flags to highlight points. She intended for me to read it over the winter . . . but I am already on page 84 of 198 ! and I have 13 post-its in the first 70 pages LOL!
My mom wanted me to highlight points to share with her and we could have our own little book club type discussion on the phone this winter. So sweet cuz she is really helping me to stay in a positive frame of mind over the winter. This could quite possibly be the sweetest thing my mom has ever done for me. Really understanding and accepting of her ( lots of history here ) I just love how wonderfully thought out this gift was.
So, ya, I am almost half way thru it. I really love positve quotes, affirmations, visualizations all of that stuff so this book is really perfect for me.
One of the first things I highlighted was:
" If you see it in your mind, you're hoing to hold it in your hand" ~ Bob Proctor
he also said:
" If you don't understand the law that doesn't mean you should reject it. You may not understand electricity, and yet you enjoy the benefits of it. I don't know how it works. But, I do know this: You can cook your dinner with electricity , and you can also cook the man!"
Such powerful and thought provoking information on the laws of attraction and creating positive thoughts and being in control of your life thru your thoughts and drawing good things to you and being grateful. I could practically quote the whole book cuz it is so wonderful all of it.
ANYWAY . . .
Some interesting things have been happening . . I have been looking for more steady income and part time work that still allows me to make my children a priority, but can help ease some of the financial pressure we feel. In that process of looking at ads and so forth I noticed a job opportunity for my husband.
A job that is actually in the field he is ticketed for, that he has not been able to use to the full in the almost 10 years we have been married. This job also allows for further education in this field, and additional apprenticeship and journeyman ticket !
We wrote up the resume, and cover letter, he dropped it off, made a follow up phone call 2 days later.
AND
Got a call for a job interview!! BUT, the interview had to be at 12 noon . . problem?
My hubbys lunch is not until 1. His BOSS has HIS lunch at noon!
This Boss has just been appointed store manager after the firing of the old manger and is still in the process of this hostile feeling take over, and company transition, and is very hard to work for, and my husband is very nervous around him and fears for his job. (even tho his position is hard to fill and in a small store of 3 employees he is desperately needed)
HOW?! How are we gonna get him to his job interview , ask the boss to trade lunch times and not have to explain . . .
My hubby walks into work and his boss says : " I need a 1 o'clock lunch today "
WHAT?!! sooooo PERFECT!! (thank you universe!)
My hubby played it cool and replied " Oh, Ok, I guess I could go for lunch at 12"
He had a great interview, and this job would mean a great deal more income to our family and would really be wonderful, especially cuz it would be less stress for my husband and a great opportunity for further education!
We can't stop talking about it, and I am very actively thinking about our life as if he has the job. I feel like he has the job!!
We are waiting for the call to tell us he is short listed and has a second interview.
But, the whole lunch hour switch being so perfect and wonderful has me thinking Hmmmmm . .
Also, I have been looking for work and what has been coming my way? WORK, not entirely in the way I expected tho ,
I have been writing up fitness programs for friends,
making a wedding cake,
3 friends want painting and interior design advice / work from me.
My brother has friends who recently found out there 3 year old son is deaf and they are having a hard time finding child care, I know ASL and so do my children, he phoned to see if I would be interested in babysitting,
and he also recently painted his living room after consulting me on colours etc. had 2 more friend interested in interior design advice or painting from me.
Also my friends whom I am training pay me in great moral support and they gave me a gift card to go buy NEW WORKOUT SHOES!! I cried! I have NEVER bought shoes from a sports store before. (usually Wal-Mart) and shoes happened to be on a KICK BUTT sale buy one get one FREEEE!
AND I also needed a new winter coat for my daughter . . but was waiting for a sale, or for the thrift store to have a quality coat in her size show up before it was too cold. .
My friend brings me a bag of hand-me-downs from her daughter. Not one but FIVE winter coats, dressy ones, cools, ones, pink ones, blue ones, and BOOTS, and pants . . I cried!
All these things have me thinking . . . Hmmmm . . the Secret , eh?
My younger brother lives here, and last weekend went home to visit the family and Mom sent him back here with a TRUCK LOAD of groceries for me. TONS of home grown veggies and produce, and fish fillets, and jams, and home canned goods, soups, frozen meatballss, all kinds of stuff! Seriously if I had to buy all that stuff it probably woulda been $ 300-400 !! THANKS MOM!
She sent a huge bag of white fish fillets, I think they are halibut. A good lean source of protein . . . BUT . . not the yummiest thing . . I prefer tilapia less smelly and fishy tasting and more flaky . . But, I am not gonna waste free food.
So I had to come up with a tolerable way to eat this fish . . I tried poaching it, bah! who am I kidding I just boiled the crap out of it in a big pot of water! LOL! Tried eating it with some light italian dressing just like I would have eaten my tilapia . . EWWwww! I was gaging it was awful, so chewy and fishy . . blech! BUT FREE! . . must eat!
So then I tried making fish cakes, this was my first attempt:
I took the poached boiled and tortured fish weighed out 3oz, put it in my minni food chopper/processor I put 1 egg white and a whole ton of Mrs.Dash, garlic and herb and table shake, and blended it till it was smooth and creamy like thick batter. I heated up a small skillet and brushed it with a few drops of oil and dumped the batter in. I made one huge fish cake cuz I was gonna eat the whole thing anyway. It would probably make 4 smaller cuter fish cakes if ya feel like bein' all Martha Stewart. I turned out all pretty and golden brown and kinda fluffy. Much easier to chew. I spread dijon mustard on it . . not bad . . not my favorite . . but not bad
My second attempt was much tastier and picture worthy. :)
Veggie Fish Cakes Blend in mini food chopper till, really mushy, like consistency of hummus : 3oz fish 1 egg white couple dashes of poultry seasoning bunch of Mrs. Dash grilled chicken blend
dump that in a bowl and add grated carrot chopped steamed broccoli
heat up a non stick pan and brush with a couple drops of oil
I made these all pretty and smaller for the picture, Press firmly into 4 patties and then press flat in the pan , I sprinkled them lightly with pepper and some salty blend stuff
I am sure most of you are more gourmet than me and can add your own spices and veggie mix, adapt the recipe to your taste.
The best part I BARELY TASTED FISH!! they were easy to chew, pleasant to swallow! Good enough for me.
I am gonna give it a try! I have been wishy washy and not stickin' to a specific plan. I want to bulk but get nervous about the weight, so I flip back to leaning, then I have a cheat and a higher carb day . . I need to have more structure. So I am gonna give this plan a go since it is very close to what I am doing now, and it will give me more peace of mind knowing I am actually following something. I will just tweak my diet and training to be more specifically in line with the article and clean up my eats a bit.
Today is day 1 of 5 lean eating days.
I had a cheat meal last night - tortilla chips with homemade artichoke and spinach dip OMGoodness it was so goood and the chips were so light a crispy and crunchy and lightly salted and the dip was so creamy and tangy and spinachy LOL! . . . but I have a huge tummy ache today
I am PMSing (it is really interesting that if you go back in my journal it ALWAYS seems to be when I am PMSing that I get all fired up want to try a new plan and have to do a weigh in and I am all water logged and then when I am ready to hit the gym and get started I get my period, WHY IS THIS??! I swear there must be a real pshycological reason)
anyway . . I weighed myself this morning . .
um . . .
I was 139.8! ....so let's just round that to 140lb!!
BUT I don't really FEEL like 140lbs. (does that count ?)
I mean I am by no means rockin' my cute jeans, and things are a bit tight, but I have had my clothes fit MUCH worse when I weighed 135 before. So I am not entirely happy about how my clothes fit, but I know I am only 2 good weeks away from having most of my clothes feel comfy. Normally most chicks would FREAK OUT about steppin' on the scale and seeing an all time high off season weight . . but I am taking all things into account not just the scale. I am not allowing myself to freak out. Honestly it actually excites me! I am thinking I am gonna be sportin' some new rockin' curvey muscle when I lean out this spring!!
...that is yet to be seen tho LOL!!
. . . 140lbs . . craziness I tell ya! It's like I have a guy on each shoulder, like the devil and angel situation and one guy is sayin:
"freak out! this is not a good off-season you are gonna have a fat butt on stage!"
and the other is sayin:
" no worries! rejoice in your muscle gains, your not fat."
I am just a normal everyday woman with those crazy thoughts, voices in my head and internal battles too ! . . . helloo . it's not just me . . . right?! . . . helloooo.. *chirping crikets *
Been crazy busy. My best friend is gettin' married in 8 DAYS!
We had her bachelorette party 2 weeks ago! Wicked awesome time!! we rented a King Size Suite at the Coast Inn of the North, and rented a limo for 2 hours. we did a pub crawl and along the way we did a "that guy" (y know, mullet guy, big side burns guy, too old to be there guy, really buff guy, big belt buckle guy etc) photo scavenger hunt it was a Hooot! We stopped at the fire hall and got to flirt with the fire fighters and hug the pole LOL! Went to a couple clubs and had wayyytooo much fun!
Last weekend I planned her bridal shower, it was an 80's theme since the bride and groom were born in the 80's ! I dressed my son up in a style reminiscent of Richard Simmons, so hilarious I gotta upload a picture!
As for the gym and fitnessy stuff . .
I've beenhittin' the weights pretty hard, have made a new friend who is as competitive and ridiculously in love with weights and muscle as I am. Her brother would like to compete in the April show I wanna do.
We have also been doin' lots of bootcamp style workouts. Pretty much every muscle group in my body is recovering from DOMS. :)
Food has been 70-80% clean. Lots of protein and more carbs than I am used to, but I am telling myself that this is a necessary evil in order to bulk up and really add the muscle I need. But I wanted to widen my back not my BACKSIDE erg! LOL!
But, I may just have to start my official contest prep in a bit stricter mode than usual. Lotsatilapia and asparagus! :P What a way to start the new year. I WISH they would post the 2010 competition schedule already!! Cuz then I can number my calendar and mark the weeks and register for the comp like a zillions weeks early so I will actually gain some willpower and stick to something!
anyhoo . . . I'll try to work on gettin' ya'll some pics when I get a moment cuz I really need to clean up my house it is embarrassing!
