Pedometer Challenge April 8-14

Apr 8 - pedometer was lost today (I found it later that night)
Apr 9 - 3609 (not good - but this day was way stressful!)
Apr 10 - 10,203 as of 3pm
Apr 11 -
Apr 12 -
Apr 13 -
Apr 14 -

Weekly Count =
Pounds Lost =
Total Pounds Lost =

Weekly Reflections:

Apr. 10 - After finding my pedometer I got back on track today and celebrated my first day of Easter Break with a long walk. I was feeling so good that I decided to do 10,000 steps in one walk! It was totally doable and I am stoked that my legs are not getting sore anymore!

Pedometer Challenge / April 1-7

April 1 - 8400 (50 min evening walk)
April 2 - 9125 (30 min morning walk / 45 min evening walk)
April 3 - approx 2000 (no walks. . .opps)
April 4 - 9427 (35 min mid morning walk / lots of walking around at Biola)
April 5 - 4980
April 6 - 6543
April 7 - ?? (I lost my pedometer in the morning at work but I did a 30 min evening walk and my legs didn't hurt!)

Weekly count = I don't have a calculator
Pounds Lost = 2

Weekly reflections:

Apr.1 - I am always surprised how quickly the steps can add up. My shins were burning about 10 min into my walk but then they warmed up and got numb and felt better. Using my mp3 player helped make the 50 min. fly by. I can't wait till I can run again.

Apr.2 - I finally did it today. I woke up at 4:30am and did my morning walk. I am a morning person so once I'm out the door I'm good and I love my walk. I'm having major pain in my outer shins though and I wonder if it is shin splints. I might have to get my steps done on an eliptical for awhile.

Apr3 - I was physically very tired today. My legs are sore. Dan says I need to stretch more.

Apr4 - I forced myself to take a walk even though I didn't want to. I took Jersey and that helped a bit. I need to have Jersey's attitude about exercise. She always acts so liberated and exuberant when we take her for walks.

Apr 7 - Well, my first week is finished. I lost two pounds which is progress. I lost my pedometer today but Dan said he would buy me a new one tomorrow. Good thing they are only $5!

Tomorrow is Today!

I bought a pedometer not long ago on the advice of a friend. My goal is to get back into running shape one step at a time. I've decided to start by walk/jogging 10,000 steps everyday. So far I have not been very successful. Do you know how many steps I walk on average? Only 1,800. . .the entire day. Sitting at my desk and 90 min in traffic everyday is not helping me much. In order for me to meet my goal I have to wake up at 4:30am to walk/jog for 40 min. then walk/jog another 45-60 min when I get home from work. I lost six pounds a few weeks ago when I stuck to my routine but then company visited and work got busy, blah. . .blah. . .blah...same old story. So once a week I'm going to post my steps and pounds lost. Well, my old internal motto is "I'll start tomorrow." and my new motto is "Tomorrow is today!" so I'm headed out to add some mileage to my pedometer. Those school papers will just have to wait till later to be graded and that movie Dan rented for me will just have to go unwatched for now. I'm tired of my yesterdays being full of missed opportunities. Pray for me. . .this is going to be a battle.

Christmas Vacation Recap

I have very much enjoyed every minute of my time away from LMHS! Dan and I were very lucky to both have the past few weeks off together and we have done some very fun things.

1. Fix up the new house (put up curtains in dining room and begun to fix up Dan's man room)
2. Have the Orr and Shackleton families over to our house on Christmas and the day after Christmas
3. Going to Vegas for three nights and coming back having not lost any money!
4. Celebrating New Year's Eve and Day with Ben, Lindsay, Caleb, Sam, Kristen, Macey, Janee, Craig, and Blake.
5. Going to see the Rose Parade Floats in person on Jan. 1 after the parade was over.
6. Going to the Mission Tiki Drive in Theatre two nights in a row to see Bedtime Stories, The Tale of Desperoux, Valkrie, and Quantum of Solace (if you live in the area check them out here: http://www.missiontiki.com)
7. Meeting many of my new neighbors who are all at last moving in.

I love lists because they are so efficient but they are not very detailed. I just decided that I should not spend my last day of vacation on the computer. Well hopefully I will feel inspired to write again soon. Today I am going to:

1. Put graded papers into the computer grade book.
2. Go for a walk.
3. Finish laundry while I finish watching White Christmas
4. Clean out my car.
5. Vaccum the 2nd and 3rd floors
6. Begin planning our Italian vacation
. . .and whatever else suits my fancy. ..maybe a few hours at Disneyland!

Ta Ta for now!

Meet Jersey, Ichi, Figgy, and Ollie

It's an animal house around here! Three cats is okay but add a dog in the mix and it is a whole new dynamic that I'm not very comfortable with. I think I would rather have triplets than a dog. But Dan says he will train her not to lick, jump, howl, scratch my new wood floors, play fetch, and other niffy and necessary behaviors. Here is a run down of our clan:

Ichiro S. BeeBee (Ichi)- is named after Dan's favorite baseball player, Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners. We first met Ichi when he was still in the womb. Our friends' cat got pregnant and Dan picked Ichi because he was the only grey kitty in a litter of black kittens. He is 4 1/2 years old and loves to sleep on our new red velvet chair.

Figgins (Figgy) - is named after Chone Figgins of the Anaheim Angels (one of Elizabeth's favorite baseball players). She was adopted after Dan found her and her three black brothers under a wood palate at the CHP office in Torrance. She is an orphan because her mom most likely got squished by traffic outside the office on the busy street. Dan affectionately called her "garbage" for awhile because she has stripes like the cat Dwight got Angela after he murdered Sprinkles on an episode of The Office. We bottle fed her from the time she was 5 weeks old. She has the loudest motor and likes to swallow her kibble and treats whole instead of chewing them. We call her our "noise ninja" because she is drawn to anything that makes noise like cell phones and sirens. When a T-mobile commercial comes on she perks up at the sound of the T-mobile generic ring. She loves to steal my red grading pens, play with ice cubes in water, and she does this hilarious cackle sound when she sees birds and flies. She is 15 months old.

Oliver (Ollie) - is our newest feline named after Dickens' orphan hero Oliver Twist. He was living in my friend Janee's neighborhood. It took Dan and Janee several weeks to catch him. He adjusted very well to Ichi and Figgy but still runs away from all humans. I still wonder if he will ever learn to trust us. Oh, well, at least he is cute! He is probably 4 months old and loves to wrestle with Ichi and Figgy.

Jersey - is the dog. She is half german pointer and half chocolate lab. We think that she is about 6 months old. She was named Jersey because she is the color of a jersey cow (and we live in Chino where there are many many cows). Once again my friend Janee is responsible for this addition to our "family". She was lost and chasing cars on a busy street. Janee rescued her and tried to find her owners but could not. So. . .Dan wanted to keep her and now Jersey lives in our little cement side yard. She is really sweet (and stinky and dirty) and Dan thinks she has great potential. I'm still holding out for Jersey's real owners to call us.

Well that is it! NO MORE PETS IN THIS HOUSE!!! Don't forget to participate in my pet survey located on the left of your computer screen.

I have been tagged!

I've been tagged by Christine Mowles which means I need to display the picture that is fourth in my fourth picture file. This is the mascot for the Seattle Seahawks. Dan took this picture when he and I were there in 2007 for a preseason game. I never cared for football much until I met Dan and I must say that even though I don't mind it on TV I never go out of my way to see a football game. I wish a more interesting picture was my fourth, fourth picture. Oh well!

I now tag: Mom, Kathryn, Ben, and Rachel

Fire - Update

6:00 am Sunday morning
The good news is the wind has totally stopped in Chino. The sad news is that the fire(s) are coming over the hills from Brea into Chino Hills. Our house is a very safe distance away but we are somewhat trapped in Chino. The fires have closed down most every road that can bring us towards LA. I just might stay home on Monday with Dan. It took him almost three hours to get back to Chino last night after a 14 hour work day.