He is Risen!

Happy Easter! It’s been a wonderful, lazy day here in Texas.  We got home from mass, and ate breakfast out on the deck.  I intended to spend some time this afternoon pulling weeds from the front flower beds, but dang if it didn’t start raining! It drizzled all day long, so we watched movies, pulled out craft projects, napped and read all day long.

Final Wrap Up

1. Item of clothing and a picture of me. I already had a dress, and it fits. You’ve seen it. The clothing above?  Medium linen sweater, size 10 skirt.  Exactly where I want to be, even if the weight number isn’t.

2.  Final weight – exactly the same as when I started.  My goal was to lose five pounds.  I lost a pant size instead. Which is really okay, even if the number didn’t go down.

3. Goal Recap: Pullups and Arm Toning – Totally happened during the challenge.  I did ten pullups last week with the aid of a band, and will continue to work on full pullups through the year.  Arm strength certainly improved.  I can lift and press some genuine weight now that I couldn’t do a few months ago.  I’ve noticed some serious strength improvement, especially when biking.  My breathing can still use help with an occasional hit on the inhaler, but I have no problems pushing my own weight up hills.

4. Books

End of Overeating. Done!!  I’m going to put some of the suggestions to work over the next few months and continue to work at losing a few more pounds.

5. Catch up with the Challenge Buddy.  Not yet, but I will.  And we’re in the summer challenge together, so I’m afraid she’ll have to put up with me following her longer.

6. I met some truly wonderful people during this challenge, and am delighted that we’re going to stay in touch.

7. I did not quit.  I’m a pretty obstinate and persistent person when I put my mind to it.

Take On a Challenge.  Keep the Faith.

Why?  Because I now have access to CROSSFIT!!!

Yep.  We’re starting a Crossfit class here at work, two days a week.  Whoot!  I just finished my first session, totally rocking everything, even the TEN pullups.  Now don’t get all excited…I used a bad-azz elastic band to help pull myself up.  🙂  I think I did okay, considering that I didn’t work out on Monday or Tuesday of this week.

It’s been an exciting week here in north central Texas!  First the amazing bike ride on Sunday, which led to a couple Advil filled days.  Didn’t I promise pictures?

Why Yes, Yes I Did. 

That’s the amazing scrape I earned sliding down the bike path.  It’s all scabbed over now and starting to itch like mad as the new skin grows.  The bruises, however, still look pretty gnarly.  I won’t share those, as the worst are on my backside. 

 

 

 

 

This is the amazing trail where I was riding.  This is NOT the hill where I fell.  Isn’t it pretty? I successfully navigated this little section.  In fact, I successfully navigated the remaining 9 miles and 2,590 feet of the trail on Sunday.  It was that one little fifty foot long stretch that gave me fits.  And scrapes.

 On Tuesday afternoon, we had tornadoes!

My offspring spent the afternoon in lockdown at their respective schools, heads tucked in and texting Mom and Dad furiously for reassurance that it would all be okay.  Thank you, teachers, for allowing our younger kids to have their phones and for letting them contact us during the worst of the storms.  It made us all feel better.  And Praise Heaven – our county out to the west was spared serious damage this time around.  We continue to hold our neighbors to the east up in prayer as they work through the labyrinth of insurance adjustment and makes plans to rebuild their homes.

Oh! Guess What?  I’ve jumped on the bandwagon and now own an iPhone.  My beloved pre got blasted to pieces when I fell on it Sunday, and they don’t make them anymore. 😦  Blackberry is no longer going to sell phones as a retailer, only as a wholesale supplier to companies, businesses, etc. My ‘official’ two year upgrade date is actually in May, but I told my amazing bike crash story to the guy at the AT&T store, showed him my scrapes and the broken phone, and then I begged for mercy.  He changed my upgrade date to April so the phone was practically free.  As in less than 50 cents. Which is actually absurd, isn’t it?

Weight?  Still the same.  Attitude?  Definitely Sassy today, because I’m taking off tomorrow and Monday to spend some time with God during the Easter Triduum, as well as share some quality time with the kids cleaning out closets and pulling more weeds from the gardens.

 Weather the Storms.  Keep the Faith.

Stand By for Photos….

They’re in Cherry Ames’ phone.  Mine is broken.  It was in my pocket when I had a gnarly fall today mountain biking.  I scraped up my right arm pretty bad and may have hit my head a little harder than necessary.  Cherry Ames, kept stopping along the trail to check my pupils and make sure I could track with my eyes.  Which I couldn’t, but I’m pretty sure I’m like that in my normal state of mind. 🙂

I almost, almost made it up a steep, rocky incline.  Got my front wheel over the rim, but then, then…The bike simply flipped backwards, like popping a wheelie, and I took a tumble back down the hill.  I remember the incredible expressions on fellow riders’ faces as they watched it play out in slow motion, and I remember having the foresight to kick the bike out of the way before the handlebars cracked my ribs. THANK YOU to Bryan Malatesta for teaching me how to fall properly in self-defense class.  I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have remembered to roll and or get my feet up to push that bike away if he hadn’t made us drill falling over and over and over!  Somewhere along the way my bum ankle got a little wrench and I have some lovely bruises. But was it fun?  Heck yes!!  Best ride in ages.  Northshore is such a lovely trail, and actually pretty easy except for that one incline.

My prescribed update.

1. Item of clothing and a picture of me. Oh yeah, you saw it last night.  I’ll post pics of my lovely skinned arm as soon as Cherry Ames emails them to me.

2. Weight This Week: 160, exactly the same.  I have officially gone down another undergarment size, as well as a pant size.  Makes no sense to me either, except that I’ve been weight training for six months now.

3. Goal Recap:  Pounds, Pullups and Arm Toning.  Pullups – still working on those.  I have eight months to work up to multiples. Arms?  AWESOME!!  Last Thursday, we were swinging double kettlebells, and I was cleaning, racking and pressing FIFTY POUNDS!!    Yes, you read that right.  Fifty Pounds, my friends.  I felt like such a rock-star, and I wasn’t sore the next day.  As for the rest of the week, one other weight/kettle bell session, 15 miles on the paved bike trail, 9 miles of mountain biking today (four before the Great Fall and five after) and  more week pulling in the garden.  Oh, and I cut a dead limb from the hackberry holding up the clothes line, with a hand saw, not the chainsaw.

4. Books

End of Overeating. Done!!  Just in time, for sure.  I’ve now taken up Primal Leadership, by Daniel Goldman.

5. Catch up with the Challenge Buddy. Yes! Hey Jo!

7. Visit Other Challengers:   Yes.

8. I do hereby solemnly swear to NOT QUIT.  Amen.

Learn how to Fall.  Keep the Faith.