Back to Working Out!

So my back has been nice for about 2 weeks now which means I can finally start working out again!

Started P90X again yesterday. I am completely starting over since I have been lazy for so long and after doing Core Synergistics yesterday I think it was a wise choice. I can tell I have lost strength.

Eating needs to get in check and stay in check. Finally had a good day yesterday and I tracked everything! Felt so good!

I have also planned all my meals for this week but I am already going to have to tweak the plan a bit since I forgot to thaw the spinach last night and marinate the chicken this morning. Stupid prep work. Oops.

If anyone knows someone looking for a wedding dress, you can find one here. I am selling a J Crew Wedding dress that I bought for my wedding but didn't wear. I ended up wearing a different J Crew dress (which I will probably sell too). Here is a pic:

Very classic and simple. Would be perfect for a garden wedding!

My First Award!

And probably my last, due to my very sporadic blogging.

A little while ago Mica awarded me this:

Here are the "rules":

1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award
2. Copy the award and place it on my blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated me for this award
4. Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself
5. Nominate 7 Bloggers
6. Post links to the 7 blogs that you nominate.

So thank you Mica for nominating me for my very first award! It will always hold a special place in my heart. Hehe.

As for 7 interesting things....this took me a while and I am still not sure these qualify as 'interesting'....

1. I hate eggs. Can't stand them unless they are in baked goods. Even the smell grosses me out. I have tried to get over this because I know they are a good source of protein but it isn't happening, probably ever.

2. I pick at everything. Nail polish, zits, scabs, the hubby's zits, etc. If it can be picked at or popped, I'm your girl. Gross. I know.

3. I am very shy in large groups of people. Even when my closest friends get together, I will most often sit back and listen instead of talk, unless alcohol is involved. That is probably why everyone loves Drunk Anne.

4. I don't regret anything. Period. Granted I have done some pretty stupid stuff, but luckily I can just laugh about it now.

5. My instinct is to be incredibly lazy. I love my couch and sleeping too much. I have to fight this daily.

6. I miss college life terribly. How awesome was it to have very little responsibilities and live within walking distance of all your friends and where you party?!?!? Tear...

7. I occasionally have horrible gas. Just ask my friends to tell you the Shed Aquarium story. They will gladly divulge the information. I seriously think I could win a Worst Smell contest when I am having one of my 'fits.' No clue what triggers it. Luckily the hubby doesn't seem to mind. That may be TMI. Sorry.

All right...as for the nominees:

1. Kelly

2. Sunny

3. Therese

4. Denise

5. Allison

6. Uhhhhhhhhh....

7. Ehhhhhhhhh....

I don't think anyone else ever checks my blog. Kind of sad.

Happy Turkey Day! Gobble Gobble!

More Stuff!!!

So I seem to be drowning my no-P90X sorrows with online shopping. I guess it is better than pigging out, at least on the wallet.

I arrived home yesterday to 2 boxes of goodies waiting for me on my front porch.

The first are my new house slippers from LL Bean:

These are so comfy! And I love that they have a sole for when I walk out on the porch to let the dogs in, etc.

The dogs of course had to check them out:

I think they approve.

The next box was from Z Gallerie.

Some more Christmas decorations and a little flower candle holder:

Love them!

Also in the box was a Christmas gift for Joe. We have decided to get each other an ornament for the tree each year, since the last time we put it up it was kind of bare. Plus we both don't want to go out and just buy a bunch of generic bulbs.

To fully understand Joe's 2009 ornament, you need to take a lighting tour of our house. We bought the house in April and the previous owners had made some interesting lighting choices. As in, there are chandeliers....everywhere.

Downstairs hall:

Office:

Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Plus there are THREE in our master bedroom. THREE! (I will show you all those when I reveal the new paint job.)

Anyway, once I saw this ornament on Z Gallerie's website, I had to have it:

Fitting no?

My Aching Back - P90X Hiatus

So yeah. My back is being a bitch. I am so incredibly frustrated by it which is part of the reason I haven't posted. I figure no one wants to read a blog full of curse words.


Brief history:


I first threw my back out at age 20. Yes...20. What somewhat healthy college student throws their back out? And what was I doing when this happened? Putting a mostly empty laundry basket on the ground. Yeah. Awesome. The first time I spent 2 days laying on my parent's living room floor until I was able to get up and walk around again.

It didn't happen again until I was 23. I threw it out bad after a move. So bad my mom and her friend came and took care of me. When I stood up straight, I was crooked. Couldn't get into a surgeon like my mom wanted so I went back to the Chiropractor. Found out I had a degenerative disk in my lower back. Yipee.

My back has had it's bad moments since then but I have been able to manage it with chiropractic care. I haven't thrown it out for a few years....knock on wood. (/knocks)


Last Tuesday, I started to notice it was getting irritated. I put off going to the Chiropractor till Friday and by that time it was really hurting. So much so I was in tears on my way home from work Friday night (TOM probably had something to do with that). I spent Friday night on the couch resting and trying to make some sort of plan to make up P90X days.

I had planned to rest Saturday and make up Kenpo and Legs and Back on Sunday. Yeah. My back had a different plan especially after putting it through work on Saturday.

New plan.

Start back up on the 29th with planned Chiropractic visits mingled in.

Ok...enough about my back.

I finished off a container of almond butter a few days ago and gave the jar to the puppies:




Which they really enjoyed. Nessie chased that thing all over the kitchen floor:

Came home from work yesterday and had a delivery from CB2 sitting on the porch:

Awesome. Awesome stuff.

Cute little Elf candle holders plus glass jars for the master bathroom:

I love these glass snowmen!!!!

These are some sort of decorative wall piece:

I am thinking of putting them in the master bedroom once I finish painting, which should be done this weekend!

Bye Bye Big E

On Sunday November 8th (yes I am running that far behind) a local hotel The Executive Inn Rivermont, more popularly known at The Big E, was imploded. We went out on a boat on the Ohio river to watch.

Before:



Now I know it may seem weird to write a post about a hotel being blown up but A) I did live there for about 10 days when I was 8 and B) This never happens in a small town.

Here is a portion of all the other boats that were out there watching. This doesn't include all the people on land.



When the hotel was first built about 30 years ago it was a site to see. It even brought somewhat big performing acts to Owensboro including Dolly Parton in her hay day.

After:



However, in the past couple of years, the hotel had deteriorated after the owners went bankrupt. I'm not exactly positive why the city decided to tear the hotel down but I do know a good chunk of the town was sad to see it go.

In any case, the implosion was awesome and sad at the same time. Apparently it was filmed by TLC and will be on some show in the near future. It also made CNN. Pretty cool for a tiny town.

I tried to upload my video that we took from the river but Blogger is not cooperating. Check here for CNN's video from several different angles.

I'm Alive but Barely

I'm still around...just been a little busy and kind of forgot to post. I apologize to anyone that actually reads this. :)

Time for a quick review of the past week's highlights:

Speaking of highlights, I got some last Thursday:


Kind of hard to tell but I think it looks a ton better. I even got another inch cut off in order to get this stupid flippy part of my hair to lay down. It kind of worked but not completely. I guess I'll just have to grow my hair back out. What a loss. Hehe.

I was in desperate need of groceries last week and had to break out this breakfast TWICE:


Dry Puffins with banana. Not as bad as it sounds but definitely could have used some milk.

Friday at work I got a lovely little delivery:


My Roomba!!!

I am totally in love with this thing. All I have to do is push a button and it goes and vacuums my floors for me. Awesome! This should hopefully take care of our fur tumbleweed issue.

Elwood even enjoyed the box:

Although he is not a big fan of the Roomba. It is quite entertaining to watch the animals dodge it. Hilarious.

So my Roomba needs a name. Any ideas?

Friday night, we went out to Christie's parents farm house and had a huge bonfire. We couldn't have asked for better weather.

Saturday was spent cleaning, relaxing, and online shopping. Ended up babysitting my nephew for a bit while my brother and SIL went and looked at houses. Sam was not feeling good and was in a super bad mood. I, of course, had no idea how to handle him. I am just that good with kids. Yay. Ended up calling John and they came home. I didn't feel as bad when Sam was still giving his parents trouble.

Sunday morning started early. We headed down to the river about 8:30 to watch the Big E Hotel be imploded at 9. I am going to do a separate post on this shortly. It was sad but awesome at the same time.

After the implosion we went to breakfast at The Miller House. Nummy. Then more cleaning ensued and then more babysitting. Sam slept the whole time I was there so it was real easy. John and Jenny ended up putting an offer in on a house they saw that day and it was accepted! Looks like they will be moving soon.

Monday and Tuesday were normal. Work out. Work. Eat. TV. Sleep. Repeat.

As for P90X. I am doing pretty well. My nutrition has been horrible but I have pretty much kept up with the workouts and can tell I am getting stronger. I missed Saturday and made it up on Sunday (my rest day). Then I missed Monday. Did Monday on Tuesday and Tuesday this morning and plan on doing Wednesday tonight so I will be caught up.

Now if only I could get my nutrition in check. Hm...

Jake has been enjoying the benefits of my workouts:

He just loves laying on my yoga mat. He also loves clawing it, which is why it is missing a few chunks.

Ok. I think we are all caught up now. Good.

How is it already Day 9???

Today is Day 9 of my P90X journey and I am proud to say I have stuck to the schedule thus far. I can't believe it has already been 9 days. Hopefully the rest of it will go by this fast, but I doubt it.

Some catch up:

Saturday morning, I got up and eventually did Kenpo X about 10:30. Just couldn't muster the energy until then. I really enjoyed this workout even though it totally proves how uncoordinated I am. Unfortunately the DVD froze with about 7 minutes left. This did not make me happy, however, I have already emailed the seller and they are sending me another disk.

The rest of Saturday was spent cleaning and grocery shopping, preparing for all the little trick or treators. My brother, SIL and nephew came over since they get like 2 kids and according to my neighbor, we get a ton. She was right. Attempting to make dinner and answer the door did not go well before company arrived. I ended up making Risotto with Zucchini and Bell Peppers from BC Everyday Italian and some Butternut Squash Fries I found on Kelly's blog. Both were yummy but I could use some experience cutting the fries. They were very uneven.

Joe and I did not dress up for Halloween but I did put the puppies in their costumes for a bit. Nessie was a pig:



Fitting, no? Elliott went as Joe so he had a hoodie on. He HATES being dressed up and hid under the chair until I took it off. I did manage one pic:



Sunday I rested. I was going to do X Stretch but just got lazy and decided against it. I will definitely do it this Sunday though.

Monday at work was typical. Did Core Syn after work and it kicked my butt again. Shooting to up my weights next week.

Got up this morning and did Cardio X. I was totally wiped during this. I'm not even sure how I made it though but I am glad I did.

Today at work I brought out some boxes for our November shipment and Hobbes (our work kitty) is taking full advantage:

I guess I have never properly introduced Hobbes aka Little Kitty.

Little Kitty is actually the hubby's cat. He adopted her within the first month of us dating. One of our coworkers found a litter of 5 cats and Joe took one. Our coworker kept the rest. Shortly after adopting LK, Joe took in one of his friend's cats who was moving into an apartment that didn't allow animals. Then about a month after that, I ended up 'moving' in with a friend that was allergic to cats. Joe so kindly offered to let Jake and Elwood live with him. We were already practically living together so I would get to see them daily.

Well. The four cats did not get along so well. Jake hated Duncan (friend's cat) and LK despised sharing a litter box. She took to peeing on beds and piles of dirty laundry. Lovely. We were able to prevent this most the time by keeping our bedroom doors shut but the second you left one open you knew you had a mess to clean up. Joe's friend eventually took Duncan back which helped a bit but LK was still unhappy. The addition of the puppies did not help.

Last year, we moved to Owensboro and into a little apartment. We set up the litter box in the spare bedroom. Bad mistake. Before we realized it she was consistently using the bed instead of the litter box. Greeeeaaat. When we found our house this past April, we had to do something. I didn't want to have to always worry if we left a door open, etc. So, we moved Little Kitty down to my work. She has never been happier. She gets a ton of attention from all of our customers and has the whole place to herself. Most importantly, she has her own litter box.

Ok back to work...