The halfway point

As I've mentioned before, I'm doing the Wii Active 30 Day Challenge. Today was the halfway point for me. I bumped up my intensity level to "medium' because I felt that I wasn't working hard enough on the "easy". It's a nice little program. I rather like it. I totally feel like I'm seeing results, even if my husband does tell me "it's only cellulite". I will NOT let him get me down. If I want to think I'm seeing results, then I'm going to see results! There is a LOT to be said for the power of positive thinking. I've gone so far as to condition myself to *not* get unhappy about about the running and lunges. In fact, I actually like the lunges. Okay, if I'm 100% honest, I don't like the running and the lunges, but I won't be negative about them because I feel like it'll go against what I'm trying to train.

After my workout, I went into my closet to find a shirt that I wanted to wear to karate today and decided to try on a pair of pants that I haven't been able to wear for a while. They FIT! Even better was the pair of jeans (size 18, yes, I'll mention it) that fit!! They were not comfortable, but I could get them on AND I could button them up. That, to me, is progress. I'm happy about that! It was a welcome thing to find out! I'm not ready to wear the jeans, but I can be happy that the exercise routine seems to be working out!!

I reached the halfway point today. I have two weeks to go until the finish of the "game". Once I hit that month mark, I'm going to start another 30 days. I am really happy about it. It's giving me an ego boost and I feel immensely better about myself.

One year ago

One year ago, I made a decision that changed my life in a good way. I left my old martial arts school. For a month or so, I floated, not doing anything, not part of a group of anything. Then I found BTK, attended a Dan Training, then showed up for a few classes and now I'm here and I'm not going away.

I am celebrating my one year anniversary. I'm a part of a bigger whole, a part of a family with BTK. I have friends who respect me. I have friends too, who are more than willing to give me a swift kick in the butt for being a whiny butt (and you know who you are!). I appreciate you, even if I don't tell you!!

I'm totally over myself and my ego. I had a huge case of "this is how things have to be." when I came into this school. Thanks to a few people who took the time to *care*, I have learned to let go of my pre-set conceptions about what I should or shouldn't be able to do. If I don't do things the way they're done in BTK, I can modify what I know to move forward and learn how to do things in this school. You need to check your ego at the door here. Nobody is better or worse than anyone else. Yes, there are people with much experience, but you know, that's because of their training, not because they're better or worse than anyone else. THAT is something I like! It's a nice feeling to know that if someone is demonstrating something to you, it's not for a "shock and awe" factor, but rather from the fact that they *know* the technique to demonstrate to the class.

Who would have thought that one year ago, I would have considered changing things? I'm glad I did.

Vacation doings

We're having a "staycation" this year, but it's turning out to be fairly pleasant. Yesterday, we did very little, just hung out at home, watched movies and played games on the Wii. Today, we went to the National Boy Scout Museum in Irving and had a lot of fun, walking around. We looked at many paintings by Norman Rockwell and some of the other paintings and drawings by his successors. That was very impressive. For a while, we were the only ones in the painting gallery, so the docent came over and talked to us. He explained the paintings to us and helped the kids find the "problem" with one of Rockwell's paintings. It wasn't a problem, per se, but it was an unusual one for two reasons: 1. Rockwell painted himself in it and 2, one of the Scouts shown was painted with only one leg. It was really a neat painting. Rockwell had some serious talent.

We went into a different gallery and watched a quick movie on Scouting. They had a mannequin of Lord Baden Powell, the founder of Scouting that was so lifelike, it wasn't even funny! It watched us, literally. We found out that a lot of famous people had been Scouts. People like Presidents Gerald Ford, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter; Buzz Aldrin, Bill Gates, Neil Armstrong (he was an Eagle Scout), the late Robert McNamara. It was a good learning experience.

After the museum, we came home and worked on the little man's requirements for Weebelos. He described to me what three of the parts of his uniform are (the kerchief, slide and hat), plus told me when and where he could wear his uniform and where he couldn't wear it. We also looked at the requirement for his "Forester" Badge and his "Handyman" badge. He's on the verge of earning the Handyman and on the verge of earning a science and math belt loop. I didn't know how much was involved in Boy Scouts!!

Tomorrow I have a visit to my dentist to fix a broken filling. That should be loads of fun (NOT!). I'm highly fussy about my mouth and can't stand things like shots and whatnot. I won't be in a good mood because I suspect I won't be able to have my morning coffee. I think I'll just make sure I drink a ton of water before I go.

Note: Today was a "rest" day, so I don't have a workout to talk about today.

Day 6 of the 30 Day Challenge

Since we bought the Wii Active, I've been faithful to the program. I AM working out every day, even if I'm not blogging about it here. I've noticed a few minor changes. The changes I'm seeing not everyone else will see right away as they don't see me as I do. I'm pretty happy about it though. I'm noticing that I am getting smaller and it looks like my arms are gaining definition. I'm going to stick with it because it's a lot of fun. I can only imagine what my poor downstairs neighbors think though...there's an "inline skating" thing that has me jumping to do "tricks". I haven't quite mastered that yet. I hate jumping, but I'm getting better.
Tony pointed out to me today that I have a tendency to land hard on my heels when I'm running, so I need to work on that. It may be the cause of some of my foot pain. I'm not sure yet. I'm going to practice running on a track tomorrow, not on the carpet in the living room. It's a "rest" day for me on the Active, so I CAN go to the track. I am noticing now that I'm happier when I'm exercising daily. Must be that endorphin high I keep hearing about!!

I have 20 more workouts to do on this 30 day challenge thing. I'm happy to keep at it. Once that challenge is over, I might just start a second one. I'm not sure yet. We shall have to see. I know I need to start working on pushups and crunches too. Those are important to my martial arts studies, so I'm going to work on them too.