Time, where does it go?

It's January 11th already, wow. I sure wish I knew how it is that time can go so quickly at some points and so blasted slow in others.  Like for instance, how quickly time flies when I'm enjoying a delicious ice cream sundae.  Zip, it's over.  But then how slowly time can go by when I'm trying to hold a plank position for 60 seconds.  In no time flat the ice cream is gone, but when I'm down on the floor,  up on my toes and elbows, trying to keep my torso from sagging and staring at my kitchen timer willing the seconds to fly by, they crawl along in s....u....p....e...r...s........l.......o.........w.....m.....o.......t......i...o...n. 

Snow fall just after Christmas

I never made New Year's Resolutions in the past.  Mostly because I knew I wouldn't keep them and then I'd feel guilty.   Since I don't need any more guilt in my life (such a waste of time) I decided resolutions were not gonna be part of my life.

Until 2012, that is.

Some of you may remember when I fell down a flight of basement stairs on my ample derriere back in December of 2011 and bruised more than my behinder?   And then I discovered I weighed a whole lot more than I realized...another area where time and possibly, just possibly, a few too many ice cream sundaes got the better of me.

Ok, so there's a lot of pictures of the Quarry, but all the shades of blue amaze me.

More than a bit depressed, and wandering aimlessly around in a video rental store on New Year's Day 2012, I found myself in the 'Health and Fitness' DVD section and there she was, Leslie Sansone smiling from the cover of a beginner's walking video.  And it was free; just bring the DVD back in five day's time.  Well, that was the start of the regular exercise.  My tailbone was too sore to sit and the only thing that felt sort of good was walking, so walking it was.  I lost forty pounds in about eight or nine months.  And then hit a plateau.

Frosted urns

Flash forward to January 2013.  Yes, I'm still walking.  And a whole bunch of other stuff.  The time just keeps flying.  Below is a 'part' of my collection of DVDs.  Our son Dave was home the other day and stopped next to the stack of fitness gurus piled up on top of the TV cabinet.  "What the.......are these all exercise DVD's??" he asked.   "Do you think you have enough now?"

Ok, so I admit I'm a little OCD.

Since the plateau, I did some reading on what to try next.  Weight training is beneficial for health and for strengthening bones as I age.  So, I've tossed in weight training three times a week, Monday/Wednesday/Friday with the 'New Rules of Lifting for Women' book trying to hoist some heavy metal around and increase the weights lifted as I go along.

There's my jungle gym in Dave's old bedroom

 I'm in Stage 2 of a six stage program which should take six months, more or less, depending on how things go.  I'm taking it slow and repeated the first stage twice since we all know that grace ain't my strong suit.  I did a stupid thing at the beginning of the weight training; I held my breath and lost my form whenever the lifting got tough as I tired.  Now I know better.  The massive exertion headache was enough of a deterrent to remind me to BREATHE.  Now I sound like a steam engine puffing away, keeping the air moving. 

Then I found a DVD by Debra Mazda, 'Let's Get Moving 2' and three times a week I use her incredible routine for a warm-up before going upstairs and lifting the iron.  The lever gym from Craigslist is being put to good use, too, I'm glad we bought it along with all the free weights.  I'm constantly adding to my free weight collection.  We found another 50 pounds of assorted weight plates at Goodwill for a very low price. 

Gotta keep a log. 

I am not sure if I'm doing all the exercises correctly and the names scare me more than the actual move.  And there's an international flavor in there too:  Romanian Deadlifts, Bulgarian Split Squats, anyone?   How about a Dumbbell Prone Cuban Snatch?  Some of the exercises sounded tasty to my calorie-lowered ears.......Swiss Ball Crunch.  Yum.  (Not tasty.  Not at all.)

So many exercises, so little time.   Holley from 'Roses and Other Gardening Joys' blog suggested I try Callanetics, (thank you, Holley!) and I'm definitely seeing results.  Subtle, but they're there.  Callanetics is definitely different than anything I've ever done before.  The exercises don't look tough, but they are.  Great for posture and for toning, amazingly effective.

Callanetics was popular in the 1980's but is making a comeback. 

Two days a week are spent at exercise class at our church.  I sure do enjoy the time spent there.  I still substitute for our class leader when she is on vacation or feeling under the weather, so on those rare occasions, I have two hours back to back as a leader.   (I never thought I'd see the day that would EVER happen, lol, thank goodness people are kind and put up with me.)

Building my strength is taking almost as long as building Aaargh.  Sheesh.

So, what have I got to show for all this work?  I wish I could say I'm getting skinnier.  Such is not the case.  In fact, the scale is going the opposite way by a few pounds.  Yep, that's right.  Up.  I don't like it, but what's a mid-fifty something woman supposed to do?  I've been doing research into calorie calculators and have recently adjusted intakes of protein and carbs and fats and blah, blah, blah.  I increased my caloric intake back in September and didn't gain any weight which is a good thing, but I have gained weight since starting seriously lifting weights.  I guess it's normal, water retention and so on and so forth.  I'll just have to play this game with the calories and see where it leads next.

Never took a picture of myself before, so vain! But there's the latest view of the poundage still sticking around.  I've got a long way to go!

  
Since gardening isn't an option this time of year, I've returned to the next best thing for outdoor exercise: cross-country skiing.  This year we'd been blessed with snow and I've been taking advantage of the wonderful exercise an hour a day at least three days a week.  There's no better way to enjoy a Wisconsin winter.  The cold, crisp air lifts my soul.  There are so many different shades of blue in the winter shadows. This old farm is my playground, around the acreage and through the Back Eight.  Sometimes little Pudding dog comes along, walking carefully in the narrow track of one ski.

But last night the temperatures started coming up and we had rain.  My snow is melting.  I'm one of the weird ones who wants to see snow on the ground in the winter.  Nothing better for our plants than an insulating blanket, because it will turn cold again.  After all, this is only the start of January.

There's a big contrast between July and January in Wisconsin.

I vow to post more often before the seasons turn.

 I wish I had more time to blog and visit blogs.  I miss it more than I can say, but with doing all the exercise and the usual cooking/cleaning/life stuff and trying to get to bed at a fairly decent hour (which I'm still struggling with which is probably another key to why I can't get where I want to be, since rest is also very important) something has to give.  I should be ordering seeds by now and haven't given it a thought.  And Leslie always says she'd rather have a messy house and a fit body, and I can tell ya, this house is definitely messy.  Oh, my!

We have plowed back into the stained glass though, and I'm getting panicky about the fact winter is flying by and we didn't get as much done as we wanted.  So, do I clean, or do cardio? Lift weights or hoist a dust cloth?  Ski or scrub?  I know, the correct answer is All of the Above and hurry up about it.

I am laying out the background glass for a Pony Wisteria lamp shade we started a year ago.  A year!  Joel pointed out something last night I hadn't even seen...here his hand is resting on the sheet of glass over the pattern pieces I had just finished laying out:

He asked me if I noticed the 'skeleton' pattern I'd just made and by golly, he was right. 

Ok, well this is the most disjointed post EVER. 

Even Teddy Dog knows better than to bite off more than he can chew.

I need to take a lesson from my dogs!