Doing Too MUCH all at once

Every mom knows that feeling that you are doing a thousand things as once and still not getting anything accomplished.  Well that has been my last two weeks, I am constantly busy running to and fro and I don't feel like I have accomplished anything except learn how to navigate on ice in my fancy dress boots without breaking a hip.

I used to stress about not getting things done, but hey there are only 24 hours in a day (that's right for the next week of so until Daylight savings, then we Spring forward and lose an hour). So then on that day we only get 23 hours.  We just can't win!

Time goes by and guess what you can't keep it in your pocket and you can't get it back.  So every minute deserves your full attention.  I try very hard when I'm talking to someone face to face to put my phone away.  The person I'm with deserves my undivided attention and that is what they will get, but sometimes the courtesy isn't reciprocated.

Nothing is more disheartening than when you are in the middle of a conversation and the person you are speaking to takes out their phone and starts scrolling or texting.  Am I THAT boring that you need additional entertainment in my presence?  Anyone who has met me knows that I can bring the entertainment and fun factor to a conversation to an almost deafening level, but one look at their phone and I lose heart a bit.

I know we all have busy lives, kids, husbands, family, church, friends, and community that pull us this way and that, but are we paying attention while we are in the moment.

Think about all those pictures on your phone or videos that you took that you practically watched whatever it may have been through the lens of your phone or camera.  Did you really do anything with those?  10 to 1 odds they are still on your phone or you have transferred them to the cloud or your computer and they are just sitting there.  You had full intention to scrapbook or print them out but where are they really.  Sitting and have you looked at them since.  NOPE!

Hey I'm just as guilty, but have decided to be in the moment.  To enjoy those around me and to give them my full undivided attention.

Every day is a gift, some you don't really want to open cause you know there are going to be challenge, and others you rip that wrapping paper like a me on a cupcake, if I still ate cupcake, so in general  like the Tasmanian Devil.

So my gift to you this week is to try to be in the moment.  Put your phone away, put it on silent, not vibrate and pay attention to those in front of you or around you.  You can meet the most interesting people if you JUST LOOK UP FROM YOUR PHONE!

So that's my observation this week.  Last day of February, so a new month and hopefully some sunshine, but this is Iowa, the weather is very fickle.

So have a peachy week my friends and be AMAZING!

SEX-Now that I have our attention

I apologize for my brief absence, but my world has been crazy busy, not a good excuse but good things have been happening.

I started the Body Boss program 3 weeks ago and I am noticing a change in my strength and tone, I also am so sore some days that I think, "what the heck am I doing to myself?"  It's not something that I can see at the present time but it is definitely something that I can feel.  I am able to do more of a "real" pushup rather than a partial pushup,  plus if my inner thighs and butt soreness are any indication, I am assuming that those muscles are getting the appropriate attention to be just a bit firmer to look a tad better in a pair of shorts this summer.

With everyone and their cousin getting the flu or cold around me, I've been lucky enough so far to dodge that bullet.  I think my OCD obsession with washing my hands and religious taking of all my vitamins with extra Vitamin C and Lysine in order to help my immune system is helping, but a cold or the flu at this stage in my adventure would be a bit of a backlash for my strength training, cause I can see if I don't do what the program calls for on the days I'm supposed, I can tell a grand difference heaven forbid I get a bug and am out of the game for a week or more.

So I'm going to touch on a sort of taboo subject that maybe you don't speak out about with strangers, well, I do, but shyness is not something that is in my DNA.  Since losing all this weight, my sex drive has definitely heightened.  Like on a scale of 1 to 10, I was a 4 maybe a 5, nowadays I'm like a 18.  I find myself wanting to buy pretty lingerie and what's even better, I can find things that fit and look good and aren't circus tents made of satin.

Why is talking about sex such a taboo thing among people?  We all have or think about it, some maybe more than others, but when I was heavier my drive wasn't obsolete but I wasn't dancing on poles either for attention, (ok there was this one time on a boat with my sister-in-law, but was only for one song and in our defense we had been drinking and in the sun for quite a while, right "M").

But now that I have energy and am liking the way my body looks (not perfect, my stomach is always going to be what it is, but I've had 3- 10 lb children and I liked cake so that is always going to be there.)  But I feel this need to buy PRETTY THINGS.  Before it was all about support and comfort, now I"m willing to sacrifice a little support for pretty and sexy.

Now if you had asked me before if I ever felt sexy, I would have honestly told you, "NO", randy and lustful, "YES", sexy would have been a definite no.  As the weight came on, I was very conscious of my body and even though my husband loved me no matter my size, in the back of my mind it did bother me, but at the time I was too far gone in my head to come to grips with that.

With the extra energy comes lots and lots of benefits, I don't get tired easily, I have great rebound energy and to be honest, if my husband didn't get tired, I would attack him all day long, but staying in bed all day is not always an option, kids, work, the world seem to call ort attention away but let's say it's a perk for him too.

So I consider it a unknown surprise with the weight loss.  Did I think it would increase my drive?  NOPE!  Was that ever mentioned to me when I started this adventure? NOPE!  Would I have done this sooner if someone had told me that it was be so AWESOME?  HELL YES!!!  So I'm telling you.  When you feel better about your body and yourself, your brain can concentrate on other things that maybe you forgot that you haven't focused on in a while.

I like getting dressed up and looking pretty every day. I do my nails, even just got a pedicure, which if you know me is not something I do (to put in perspective it was only my 3 pedicure EVER!), I find I put on lipstick, I take time to put on makeup.  With help and encouragement from my daughter, I pick cute outfits to wear (I ask for her help cause I want to look like a 48 year old sexy woman, not trying to look like a 20-something, I know who I am and I just want to be somewhat age appropriate)
All of these things are extremely foreign to me as I've never ever been a girly girl.  But this year I've decided to step up my game and spend time with friends, no more sitting at home watching TV, no more sweatpants and sweatshirts as my going out clothes.  I buy clothes that fit, even if they hug my curves, no more covering up, I've worked hard for what my body looks like now, I when I wear clothes that fit right, it shows.

So there you go, another story in my saga.  I've lost 110 pounds so far and in another week will be my 15 month anniversary.  I really feel I've been able to keep going.  Happiness will do that do you, you get a little taste and you can't help but get addicted and want it more.

So there you go, I feel sexy now, I'm not going professional or starting to take on a lover (ha ha) or become a cougar, but it's nice when someone compliments me on my outfit, my hair, my overall work and not that I NEED the validation, every person needs to know that they matter and even if it's a "You look great" comment, it's very nice to hear.

So if your resolution was to do better this year, don't give up. I have noticed that the gym used to be packed and now it's starting to be a bit emptier, don't give up on YOU!  You deserve to be happy and if you don't do the work, how do you expect results?

So I leave you with this fun thought?  And thank goodness it burns calories and not add them.