Making Lifestyle Choices

Now that I'm up and moving, I decided that I really need to set a long term goal for myself. The scary thing is that I'm going to share my goal and ask that you help me stay focused. Drum roll please, I want to complete a 5k. Ideally, I want to run the entire 3.1 miles. But, I'm going to be practical and not try and do this until next year; I haven't decided when just yet, but before it gets too hot.

I loved running, in fact, I was on my junior highs track team, but I haven't exercised in about 15 years. Something about working, being married, and having kids *shrugs* Well, that's in the past.

I decided that instead of going out there and trying to run 2 miles a day, then 1, and then not at all, I needed to completly change my lifestyle. I cut back on certain foods like cake and potatoes, increased others (mainly fruits) and as time has gone on I've slowly made changes, each week, until I started walking back in mid September.

Since I've had a history of getting shin splint easily, I decided to walk in a small field just outside my bedroom door. Initially I was only able to make 4 laps, but as I decreased the time it took me to complete that distance I've increased the number of laps, more that doubling what I was walking. I walk a minimum of 3 days a week, but my goal is 5 days.

 

The biggest problem I've had is that I don't like wearing tennis shoes. In fact, if you were to look in my closest right now you would only be able to find three pairs of shoes that aren't Birkenstocks. And yes, one of those pair are my brand new Nike Vomero 4. It took some time to find the right shoe, but it has made all the difference.

The training for a 5k is typically done in 8 weeks, but I am not your average couch potato. I'm not going to worry about officially training at this point. I figure by mid-march I will have been walking for 6 months. I think that may be the time to start. There's a great site that has a Couch to 5K training program that I plan on following.

Please keep me honest and offer encouragement when you see me, I'll need it!

Made in the U.S.A.

I want you to go around your house and look at the tags on your furniture, home decor, children's toys and clothes. Where are they made? I took a trip around my house after reading this article. I found that the majority of things in our house come from China. It made me want to cry.

I used to work at a home decor store. As I unpacked boxes, I found two very disheartening things in common:

1)everything was made poorly and

2)everything was made in another country. Of course 95% was made in China. Remember them? I also found that the amount of packaging with Styrofoam and plastic is in an abundance. I won't go into the fact that I saw WALL-E yesterday and I believe we are going to bury ourselves in packaging. I'll save that for another post.

Back to China, they poisoned our small children with their poor craftsmanship of toys. Surely you haven't forgotten the recalls, but the good ole USA companies are still outsourcing. Not only to China, but to India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam to name a few. And it's worst than that, watch this YouTube clip.

If you're not upset by the state of our economy and watching friends and family members get laid off doesn't bother you, then you might want to look at what your putting into you very own body. I realize you have seen the benefits of genetically engineered foods, but that's not the whole story. Anne over at Twice Bloomed Wisteria has told us all about how the genetically modified corn effects the bees and your honey. You might want to read this article and decide if you want to eat the food others are growing. Also, there's a book that discusses the way we eat called Why Our Food Choices Matter by Peter Singer, Jim Mason.

Jayedee over at Life in the Lost World turned me onto the 100 Foot Diet Challenge. It is really very interesting. It doesn't take that much room to grow a few veggies and fruits for your family, Hell, I'm doing it and I haven't got a clue, but you've seen how much were getting from an 8 by 30 foot piece of land. This is only our second year to have a garden and we're feeding more than our family with what we're growing. This year my goal is to learn to can!

I know that this is pretty scary stuff, but I don't think I can sit back and ignore what's going on around me. If the outsourcing of jobs does effect you and if our food is being shipped in, out of season, from half way around the world doesn't bother you and if we buy it with out asking questions we are contributing to the problem.

If you can't grow anything please buy local and try to buy made in the U.S.A. Also, you should check out this Wall Street Journal article on 50 Things being Blamed on Rising Oil Prices.

the vampire in me

I have to admit that I find what I'm about to say to be a bit embarrassing. Apparently, I don't mind tell you about my embarrassing obsessions, but I do want to preference this by telling you another story that may explain the reason for my current obsession.
You see, a number of years ago a friend of mine told me about this vampire movie. Honestly, I wasn't much of a vampire person, but I was a very big Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise fan (at the time) so I became mildly interested in what she was telling me. When I found out that the author, Anne Rice, was from just down the road in little ole NOLA I became more interested and decided to read the book, Interview with a Vampire before going to the movie.
I fell in live with the vampire Lestat and Anne Rice's style of writing. The movie, I did not like. I started reading all of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles after that. The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damn, Tale of the Body Thief, The Mummy (a personal favorite) The Vampire Armand, but by the time I got into Blood and Gold I had quite my job as a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor for dually diagnosed patients at a local psychiatric hospital in lue of staying at home with my two precious children. Needless to say, I started reading Goodnight Moon, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. That doesn't count the numerous self help books I've read through. I did eventually graduate up to Little House on the Prairie and Hank the Cowdog, but otherwise I haven't read much in the way of adult literature.
That brings us to my embarrassing current obsession. I'd like to shift the blame to my history of only reading children's literature or maybe even to Ann over at Sharp Spiels who first suggested that this series was a good read, but I'm afraid I may have to accept all the responsibility for my lack of quality adult literature. Okay, so here goes, I like Stephenie Meyer's vampire books. There, I said it, I'm not sure if I'm relieved or embarrassed. You see, what happened was that I decided, before we left for Vegas, to get something to read for entertainment instead of all those children's behavioral books. The only book that I could think of when we were at the library was the one Ann had mentioned in her blog so I decide to check out Twilight. I finished it and decide to get New Moon and Eclipse while we were still on vacation. Of course these book are intended for younger audience, but yes, I defiantly enjoyed them. I have since discovered that I'm not the only old woman who likes them. There is actually a site for Twilight Moms. If you're human (or not) and 13 years old (or older) I recommend reading the Twilight series. Book four, Breaking Dawn will be out August 2 and Twilight the movie is due out on December12.




Go here to see the first official trailer.