Showing posts with label Project Brighten Someone's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project Brighten Someone's Day. Show all posts

Monday, 24 June 2013

I Must Confess ........

I know that last week's linky was about embarrassing moments but seeing as I am getting old and not quite up to speed as everyone else, I am going to blog about it this week instead of last week !!! And, because Kirsty isn't too fussed about what our confession is about, I figure it is OK to be a week out of sync with everyone else !

My name is Me and I am over-weight fat. There is no two ways about it. There is really no polite way to put it. I am fat. Bottom line (no pun intended - OK maybe just a little pun intended !) - I am the biggest I have been since I was 38 weeks pregnant over 21 years ago. Last week I put on 4.3kg. Yes, I ate no sugar, no wheat, no dairy and I put on 4.3kgs. Maybe it is all the protein and healthy fruit and veg that I have been eating !!! Seriously, it has to be the medication because what the hell else could it be ???????

But, it is very difficult to walk around with a sign on my forehead saying "I am this big because of the medication I am taking " - isn't it ? And, in actual fact, I'm not even taking the medication anymore although I have been told that it will still take a while for my system to get rid of all the medication and things may be slow after that. Well thank you for that small gem of NOTHING !!

Anyway, my confession is about how I went walking on Saturday and landed up with chaffing on my butt cheeks ! Yes, you read that correctly - my butt is now so big, my cheeks chaff each other while I am walking. As do my tuckshop arms.

This is where I wish I was walking

This is something I didn't know because I have never done any exercise at this weight. You better believe that the last time I weighed this much the last thing on my mind was exercise - all I wanted to do was GET THE BABY OUT !!!! (She - although we didn't know she was a she at the time- was two weeks late) and I didn't walk anywhere - I waddled. I was surprised that nobody called the Whale Protection Services (or whatever they are called) when I was out because I certainly bore a close resemblance to a whale - thank goodness I was never in togs so they didn't have to worry about a beached whale !!

And my poor feet - I don't think they knew what had hit them during the walk. I set off for the PO because I mistakenly thought that if I posted my latest PBSD stuff at the PO and not at a satellite collection box, it would go sooner. Well that was wrong - it only gets collected at 5pm Monday - Friday so it makes no difference. But that is OK - except that from the shopping centre, I decided to turn left instead of right, not really thinking about how far left I would have to go before I got to a road going left that would take me back to the road that I needed to be on to get home. By the time I realised what I had done it was too late to turn back as it would have taken me longer to walk home from there than to carry on the way I was going. So, there I was, pounding the streets, at 10mins p/km (so sad when I think of what I was running previously BUT I am not going to compare - well not a lot anyway !!!) and my poor feet had to put up with the extra 'I don't know how much force because of the extra weight I am carrying' going through them. No wonder they were screaming at me for the last 2kms. I landed up walking 6.22km in 1 hr 1 min. Apart from the above complaints, I felt fantastic when I was finished. Not so much because of how far (or not) or how fast (or not) I had walked - but more because I had actually just got out there and done it, without looking for an excuse about why I couldn't do it. This week I had committed to walking three days - I have done two as I managed to get out for a shorter walk on Sunday.  Clearly Runkeeper does not like to work when my phone is shoved down the waistband of my pants as I had only gone about 600m when it was telling me I had done 1km in about 6 mins - which would have been absolutely fantastic if I hadn't only been walking 1km in 10mins the day before !!!!  I knew it was stuffed so I reset it and then had to carry my phone the rest of the way so that temperamental Runkeeper would work properly !!!!  While it isn't the three that I committed to, it is better than the zero walks which I have been averaging for the past too many months !!!!

I have to carry my phone because the iPhone holder that I have causes too much chaffing under my arm. I am getting to the point where the bigger exercise clothes that I bought a few months ago are getting too small for me. Do I go out and buy some more or do I squish myself as best I can into them for a few more weeks while I wait to see if this weight starts to move ? Am I going to embarrass myself even more if I continue to wear clothes that, while they aren't exactly too small, they are very close to it ? Is someone going to be wearing the Judgey McJudgey hat that I sometimes have on ? Are they going to look at me and say "Goodness - doesn't she have a mirror at home ? Didn't she look at herself before she walked out the door ?" Or is it all in my head and nobody is actually looking at me anyway because, aside from the fact that I am large and out exercising, there really is no reason for anyone to look at me ?

No matter, I have to do this for me. I need to do this for me. I need to be exercising because I feel so much better when I exercise. I need to get out there and get those endorphins flowing again. I need to get out there and improve my time and my fitness levels. I need to get out there so that I can improve my self esteem. I need to get out there so that I can be an example for A and K. And, most importantly, I want to get out there again - I have missed the above feelings from not exercising like I used to. It has been all too easy to slip out of the habit and now I need to work on getting back into the habit.

Rhianna from The Parenting Life tweeted about a squatting challenge which I think I may try. And, if I am going to do that I could just as well start my daily planking session. So, with those two exercises and my walking, it looks like I am on my way to getting my fitness levels back to where they were (hopefully without too much pressure from me about 'the good ole days when I used to be able to do xyz' !!!!)  Having decided to do the above, I started with 3 x 20 squats when I got back from my walk and 1:49:3 of planking on my knees.  Tomorrow the plan is to do 80 squats and somehow build up to 300 squats by day 30 so am going to have to do a little spreadsheet (yes, why thank you, I am the queen of spreadsheets) tomorrow so that I can work out how many I have to increase it by each day in order to get to the 300 in 30 days !!!!

What are you confessing to today ?  Why not join in with Kirsty at My Home Truths ?

Have the best week !

TFTD : Sometimes what you want isn't what you get, but what you get in the end is so much better than what you wanted.

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

The Week That Was

Well, those 9 days passed in the blink of an eye.  OK - maybe not quite the blink of an eye but it certainly doesn't feel like it was 9 days ago that A arrived home and he has left again already.  We were talking last night and I made him laugh - he had annoyed me in the evening because I had asked him to do something on Friday, and Saturday and Sunday and he had still not done it (and by then it was dark and I knew that even if he went out to do it, it wouldn't be done properly because he wouldn't be able to see properly) - I told him that when I was really missing him while he was gone, I thought about the times he had really annoyed me and then I didn't miss him so much !!!!  He thought that it was a strange way to deal with him not being at home and I told him "Whatever works for me, works for me !!!!"

We spent some amazing time together - just being together - not necessarily doing anything exciting - just enjoying being together.

I also spent Wednesday morning waiting for him to have some cancer cut out of his face only for him to go for a follow up appointment on Friday and be told that, while they had cut bigger than they thought necessary, they didn't get it all.  So, he has to go back again once this lot has healed.  The next time they are going to send it off to pathology before they stitch him up to make sure that they don't have to cut again.  Poor bugger - the same thing happened with the last lot of cancer they cut out - didn't get it all and they had to go back in again.  Lucky he doesn't have a career in modelling !!!  My BIL thinks this could be a new weight loss strategy - getting bits cut out !!!!

Thursday I took the day off work and Friday K took the day off work to spend with Dad.  I was really pleased as she can be a little narky with him at times.  Actually, when he arrived and it looked like things may get a little tense between them, I said "OK, Dad is only here for 9 days so everyone has to be nice to everyone else" - and that seemed to be the mantra repeated a few times while he was home.  If only it would work when he was home permanently !!!!!!!!!!

I thought that I was doing the right thing by booking a flight to see him half way through this month that he is away from home only for him to get to Townsville this morning and hear that the riggers are moving down to Rockhampton in the next couple of days which means he will be following them a few days later.  So, now to see how much it will cost me to change my flights - bloody company couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery if their lives depended on it !!!!!!!!!!!!  DRIVES ME NUTS (I think I may have mentioned this before !!!!!)

I have finally stopped the medication I was taking for depression so hopefully my weight will start to move now.  I was going to walk tonight but got home late from work and brought some work home with me to do so I didn't land up walking.  But, I have to be honest and say that it is a long time since I have felt so good.  I feel in control of my life and, even though I miss A while he is away, I don't feel like I can't get through the day because he isn't here.  I feel like I can cope by myself.  I don't know how I will go with staying in the house by myself as K is off to house sit for friends of ours on Thursday but will deal with that when it happens.  I cannot believe how much better I feel now, when I compare how I was feeling a few months ago - when everything seemed to be too hard and too much.  I am still on heaps of medication and supplements (24.6 tablets per day) BUT, if that is what it takes to get my body and mind feeling like this, I will continue to take them because they are worth it - every - single - one - of - them.

Today I landed up working late to get reports printed off for our board meeting first thing tomorrow morning at Richlands, so I was not in the best frame of mind when I got home.  That changed really quickly when I checked the mail and found an envelope addressed to The Body and Feet Retreat and this is what was inside :




Shelley from learnlovelive had mailed it to me.  I cannot tell you how happy it made me - it will look absolutely great with my winter jumpers.  I can't wait to wear it to work tomorrow.  I don't think the people at work will understand the significance to me that it has as none of them know me as 'Me' - but I just love it !  Thank you soooooooo much Shelley, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you thinking of me.  As Lisa from RandomActsofZen said "Karma" !!!

As it is Tuesday I am joining in with Jess at EssentiallyJess for #IBOT.  I have to say that I missed my on-line friends this past week.  I also missed celebrating my 30,000 page view - but hey, that happens sometimes !!!  It's good to be back and I hope to be able to catch up with what everyone has been doing over the next few nights. 

Take care everyone - and, remember, if you would like to be part of either Project Pay It Forward or, Project Brighten Someone's Day, please DM or e-mail me your physical address and I will add you to the list.  I think I am loving these projects more than the people on the receiving end of them !

TFTD : One of the most rewarding moments in life is when you finally find the courage to let go of what you can't change.
(I cannot tell you how much this thought has changed my life !)

Friday, 7 June 2013

Things I Know

Friday is link up with The Miss Cinders (please note the name change !!!) for Things I Know Friday.  Why not join in because, as we all know and MC always reminds us, we all know sh*t.

Today :

- I know that I am more than a little teensy weensie excited.

- I know that when I say "See you just now" to A this morning, it is true !

- I know that this has been a great week.  One of those weeks where, even though some things haven't gone to plan, I've been able to go with the flow and all has been well.

- I know that I am looking forward to the long weekend.

- I know that K and I had a great conversation last Friday night when we driving into Surfers for her to drop me off to meet with CrashTest Mummy.  She said "Mom, I don't want to grow up like you." and, do you know I was soooooooooooooo happy to hear her say that.  I can't think of many other things she could have told me that would have made me happier !!!!  I don't want her to grow up like me either.  I want her to grow up confident and self assured and capable and strong.  I want her to grow up believing in her ability to achieve whatever she wants.  I want her to grow up and be out there - not in a nasty way - but in a way that says "I'm here.  I'm strong.  I'm confident.  I can achieve anything. Don't mess with me because you may land up being sorry."

- I know that this will probably scare some people off but that is OK, she is very stong willed and needs to mix with people who can deal with that and not let her be in charge all the time.

- I know that I am looking forward to going to a Suns game with A on Saturday - it's been too long since he has been to a game.  What would be even better is if we beat North Melbourne (which I think we could do if the stars align !!!)

- I know that I love brightening someone's day - I have got sooooooooo much pleasure out of this project - I am finding it quite hard to hold back and pace myself.

- I know that I am loving the new blogs that I have come across recently and the new connections I am making on Twitter / Instagram.

- I know that I love the way the universe works.

- I know that I may not be on SM much this coming week because sometimes living IRL is more important.

- I know that my awesome on-line friends will be here for me when I get back and will totally understand me not being around while A is home.

Have the best weekend and I will see you when I see you !

TFTD : It's the hardest times that teach us the most valuable lessons.

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Project Brighten Someone's Day (PBSD)

Some of you may remember I posted about the Pay It Forward (PIF) Project towards the beginning of the year here and I had some responses.  There were quite a few people who said that, while they would like to receive some mail, they weren't too fussed about sending anything on to someone else or they had already received a PIF item but hadn't sent anything on.

 

This got me thinking.  Since starting PIF, I have realised just how much people really enjoy getting snail mail so I have decided to start another project.  This project doesn't involve you doing anything EXCEPT sending me your address.  I know that there are people out there who are nervous about sending their address to someone they don't know so I want to assure you of the following :

- I will not sell / give away / part with your address to anyone else - and I will only use for the purpose of this project

- I will not stalk you

- I will not turn up unannounced for breakfast (lunch, dinner or morning or afternoon tea) - in fact I won't turn up unless specifically invited

- I will not turn up unannounced, with or without my family in tow, for a two week holiday over Christmas (or any other time of the year)

OK - so now I have got what I won't do out the way, this is what I will be doing.  Project Brighten Someone's Day will mean that, should you send me your address, you will receive something via snail mail, at some point in time in the future.  There is no obligation on you to pass this on to anyone else.  Your only obligation is to smile and let whatever the postie has delivered, Brighten Your Day.

 

You can either e-mail your address to me at bodyandfeetretreat (@) gmail (dot) com, DM via Twitter where I am @kal20m or DM on Facebook.

And, because it is Tuesday I am linking in with Essentially Jess for #IBOT because that is what I do on a Tuesday !

Have the bestest week e.v.e.r. !!!

TFTD : Thank every person who has ever told you that you can’t achieve your dreams, and let them fuel your motivation until you do.

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