OHIO'S BIGGEST LOSER!!!

That's right, a letterboxing friend is conducting a version of the Biggest Loser beginning in about a week and running through May 30th, 2009. So what a better way to start off a new year than with a jump start into health and fitness.

I started this blog a while back, when I was loosing weight and feeling great about how I looked and felt. Well, its been a while since my last post and some weight has creeped back on me!!! So when I saw this Ohio's Biggest Loser, I figured why not, maybe making myself accountable to someone else would get me motivated. I am even dragging my husband in on this journey too, we're going to do this thing together so we can look like we did when we first go married!!!

So if you are up for a challenge, let me know and we can get you motivated and back into a healthier you!! If you'd like to join the letterboxing Ohio's Biggest Loser, check this out http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?gEventId=1040

Oh Man!

Well, as you can see that I haven't posted for a while, its been one hectic June around here!

Since the 1st of June, we've had one child with a fractured arm, another child with a concusion and strep throat, and a mom with a bum lower back. I was hoping that things would slow down a little bit and we'd be able to enjoy most of the summer, but we've just been dealing with this stuff so much. (So there, that's the reason for not posting lately!)

Now onto some exciting news- we made it out to Glacier Ridge Metro Park near Dublin, Ohio today. We walked the wetland area looking for creatures and got to enjoy the beautiful morning! The kids loved seeing the huge bullfrogs, but the pictures didn't turn out to well of the big guy! I added one of him that my daughter took plus another of a bird out in the wetland on a tree. She was having fun with the camera, but not getting very many good shots! She's learning!

If you haven't been to this park yet, you are missing a gem. The observation deck from like 20-30 feet up is exciting for the kids to see and look out on the wetland. The boardwalks offer close up views of the bullfrogs in the water. Ducks floating, dragonflies zooming by and a quiet and peaceful walk. This is only part of the Glacier Ridge Metro Park. There is a full woodland area too. They have a great little playground, horse trails, disc golf and programs offered throughout the year.

So if you are near U.S. 33 and Post Road between Dublin and Marysville, make sure to check out Glacier Ridge Metro Park.

When it Rains...It Pours!

No, I'm not talking about actual rain. I'm talking about all the bad or unfortunate things that have happened or are happening in my life lately.

While out walking trails and planting a few letterboxes on May 24th, I had an unfortunate and very scarey accident. My girls and I stopped at a cemetery to view the site, it had a historical marker and it was in a really neat location. We had been having a great day walking trails, seeing the local castle and just having fun. When I pulled into the cemetery, I got out of my van, was about 10 feet from it and it started rolling down the hill in front of it. I raced for it, but couldnt' do anything. All I could do was get the door open and tell my kids to hold on. Yes, my three children were buckeled in the car as it rolled down the hill, through a fence, kept going down the hill and up another hill until it came to rest on that hill. It traveled about 1 1/2 football fields. Everyone was fine, a fence was knocked down, the van has some damage, I had some bruises, it was the absolute horrible thing I have ever had to see or deal with in my entire life. We are all okay now, emotionally, but I still think about it daily.

Today, my 5 year old fell off the bed and fractured her arm. It took her about an hour to really complain about the pain, then I took her to the urgent care center and they took the xrays. Sure enough, she fractured the lower bone in her right arm, just above the wrist. She's only 5, so its a little hard to explain that she has to keep this full arm cast on for 4-6 weeks and will be in pain for a few days. Luckily, it wasn't a full brake, so she was able to handle the xrays and cast wrapping.

This afternoon I also learned that my grandmother in law is not doing too well. She has cancer all over her body now, and it seems that her mind is starting to go. She had just had her 1 year date of "you only have a year to live" and she has kept a positive spirit all along. I just hurt for my mother in law, who lost my father in law in January. She has been having a hard time lately, adjusting to life without him, and now she is dealing with loosing her mother. I told her to be strong and if she has to get away, she needs to get away. She kept saying she's having flashbacks to my father in laws last days.

So when it rains, it pours. Thank God my family is doing well, we are all healthy and alive. I just pray that the rest of this year brings good things to our family. We've had enough bad around here lately.

Challenge

Okay, I've gotten feedback from a few people about their challenge for me.

1. Get a picture you don't like of yourself and post it somewhere that you can see it daily. This will help to remind you what you want to change.
2. Get a log, journal, piece of paper and start keeping track of your daily activity. Write down when you talk a walk, move during commercials, ride your bike, workout to a dvd. Just write it down. This will show you what you are doing and if it is enough!
3. Move! Any little step you take will get you on the right path. Whether it is walking around your yard, on a 2 mile trail, playing tag with the kids, crunches during commercials. Just move!

They say you have to jump right in and get started to meet your goals. I was doing really well and then I got the flu in April and it knocked me right off track. Now is the time for me and anyone else wanting to join in on this journey to take the step in the right direction for our health.

Feelin' Better but Needin' Help

Well, I'm feelin' better! My back seems to be doing great, not its just time to get back into the exercise routine! I have to admit that I've put a few pounds back on and I really need to get them off.

So this is where you come in, you friends and readers. I need motivation! I really need to get my butt moving and loose some more weight. I don't want to be one of the obese people who are keepin' our state on the "Fat list". I want to be a healthy 30 something woman! I want to be a healthy and fit mom so I can be a role model for my girls. I want to be healthy and fit for me!!

But... I still need motivation and help!

What do you say, give me some encouragement, some challenge or some advise... God knows I need it!

Not Again!!:-(

Well, I have hurt my back again!!!:-( That's right I say again because this happened almost a year ago to me and now it is back.
Last year I had two slipped disc and was in pain for over two weeks in April. Many visits to the chiropractor/ doctor and lots of massages and I was healing fine. Well, you know when you have a 1 1/2 year old, there is no way to get around picking them up from time to time. I was doing great and then... BAM... I reinjured it at the end of May. This time it was much worse, I couldn't stand up straight, I walked with a major sideways bend and it hurt like you know what!
Got an MRI and it all revealed two slipped disc and mild disc degeneration.
I'm only 32 years old at the time and worrying how this is going to affect the rest of my life.

So I think about what I need to do. I have scoliosis in the same excact spot where the degeneration is and where the two slipped discs are. Am I going to be dealing with this the rest of my life? Doctors tell me more than likely yes.

I'm trying to help fix this problem over the past year by exercising, stregthening my muscles and work on my posture. Obviously I'm not doing a very good job. (And heavy lifting is definitly a big no no for me, but I did lift a few things on Thursday night.) I felt fine on Friday, great on Saturday, woke up Sunday morning feeling a little sore, but I thought it was from sitting in the car for our little mini road trip.

Well, at a letterboxing event on Sunday, I stood up to stamp an image into my log and I gues it was the angle I was at... next thing I know, I'm in pain and thinking Oh no, not again.

Good thing my cousin is with me, she worked on my back last year as she was finishing up schooling for massage therapy. She just looked at me and I told her its happening again. She knows whay kind of pain I was in last year and I told her, I'm gonna need your help tomorrow!

So say a little prayer for me that I heal up and learn how to not do the things that are hard for me not to do. (If that makes sense!)

Hope you are all feeling well and take care of yourself!

My KindHearted Act

Not everyone can say that they have done this kindhearted act... but I did tonight!
I cut over 11 1/2 inches of my hair off!!!! All for a good cause... Locks of Love.

I am a co-leader of our KindHearted 4H Cloverbud group. For those of you who don't know, Cloverbuds is for Kindergarden through 2nd grade students, kinda to prepare them for 4H. Well, our topic for tonight was Relay for Life and how we are helping with our local Relay next month on June 13th.
I had this "hairbrained" idea that it would be neat to cut off my hair at the meeting to show the kids a kindhearted act.

It all began about a year ago at our Cloverbud meeting when we read a book about a little girl who cut her hair, so a wig could be made for someone who needed it. I told our club that I was going to do that someday.
The other day while at recess at school, I thought that our meeting would be a perfect chance to do this. I called my stylist and she said she'd let me know by 4:00 today. (Our meeting was at 6:30!) She called, so we set the plan in motion.
My co-leader got a book about a little boy who shaves his head to give his hair to his Momma who has cancer. That then lead in to discussion about why people would want to cut their hair. Then I introduced Missy and she talked a little about what she was going to do.

The kids were excited, I was a little excited too (not one bit nervous!) and the process began.
1. Pony tail - measured
2. Cape on
3. Scissors in hand, she cut about 4-5 times to get through the pony tail
4. I was holding my pony tail!
5. I couldn't believe I did it
6. Missy styled my hair!

All I can say is that I can't wait to hear what the kids have to say to people about this. We have encouraged them to help with Relay for Life by getting donations for Luminaria candles that will be lit the night of Relay for Life. Several of our kids are even coming to help fill the bags, write lables, place candles and put the luminaria on the track.

It is such a wonderful experience to have done this and I hope the kids will remember my kindheared act!!!