Back To Blogging Again..Summer Plans..

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Yes, I now it has been a LONG time since I wrote anything here.. I plan to make up for that over the summer.

There are only 2 and a half days of school left in this year. I have to say I am really looking forward to Summer Break. REALLY looking forward to it. Now that the boys are older(Austin is almost 14 and the twins are almost 12) I don’t feel like I have to be up their butts 24/7 which I am sure we are ALL thankful for. We have the pool set up and it is PERFECT with the deck around it and my cool gravity chair I got to lay out on. I see myself spending a LOT of time out there with the boys with tunes playing and soaking up sun.

I have a lot of plans for the summer for self improvement. It seems that the summer months are the best months for me to take on anything like that because my schedule is much easier to handle then.

1.  I’m going to redo Chalene Johnson’s 30 Day Challenge to Master Organization. She starts a new challenge every first of the month so NOW is the time to sign up and it’s totally FREE. You can’t beat that! It totally helped me to focus better on my goals back in January and how to master a to-do list. I’m just wanting to refresh myself over the month of June while I focus on some other goals too.

2.  I’m starting back on my fitness program. I haven’t decided if I will do a Beachbody Program or just do Body For Life again. I had such amazing results with Body For Life I will probably go that route. OR- I may mix up some different Beachbody Programs along with some basic Body For Life Workouts. Of course I will be drinking Shakeology too the whole time. As always. Love that stuff! I’d like to drop about 25 pounds by the time the kids go back to school. I think it’s totally doable as long as I stay focused on my workouts and the food I am putting into my body.

3. I am planning on getting through MOST of my Photography Course from New York Institute of Photography. I’m kind of stuck on this one part of it that I am really NOT interested in at all. (Film Photography) I know why I have to learn it but it is just boring me to death. (I don’t EVER plan on shooting with a film camera so I don’t feel that interested in learning it.) I’m just going to get through it and move on.

4. Scentsy Convention is in Dallas in August and I am super excited about that. I am on track to earn the special incentive warmer for this month PLUS I achieved Scentsational Start Level 2 in my first 70 days! WOOT!  I’m going to really push to try to get some basket parties booked over the summer.

5. I am still continuing with my orthodontic treatment and moving towards my Jaw Surgery. I was told at my last appointment though that I will likely NOT be having surgery until sometime in 2012. That was a real bummer, but it’s ok. I’m over it. As long as I can get it done while the kids are in school next year I will be fine. I would like to avoid having it done during Thanksgiving/Christmas break or any other holiday that is centered around food. That would suck to spend the holidays banded shut and sucking food though a straw. LOL

6. I am going to work really hard on the kids eating and dietary stuff over the summer. I have GOT to get them on better food and I am sick to death of cooking Mac and Cheese almost EVERY SINGLE DAY.  So, it’s back to the Sneaky recipes that use pureed veggies in them and so on and so forth. Healthier home cooked meals for everyone. Win/Win situation.

So, that’s my plan for the summer! What are you planning?

 

P90X: Redux AKA: I May Be A Glutton For Punishment

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So, now that I have the top braces on and I’m used to them and back to eating my normal food again I’m going to try to do the whole P90X thing again. My last round I made it about 9 days before injuring my shoulder. Then life got in the way, I got the braces, couldn’t eat real food, got frustrated and I stopped. As hard as the workouts were I did love them. And I miss seeing Tony’s smiling face in the morning.

I’ve been mixing up different workouts from Rockin’ Body and Hip Hop Abs with Turbo Fire and doing tons of Wii Dance games, but it’s really not satisfying my craving for the X… There’s just nothing like finishing one of Tony’s workouts in a pool of sweat. It’s a total rush, and even though I usually want to puke afterward I ALWAYS felt like I had accomplished something at the end. (Especially after doing Plyometrics.)

I picked a different rotation calendar this time that I hope will fit my schedule better. It’s P90X Lean which focuses more on cardio and less on the weight lifting aspect. It’s supposed to be better for the fat burning aspect which is my goal for now. Of course I’m going to tweak it because it still has the Yoga X and the Kenpo which I HATE so I’ll be subbing in X-stretch for the Yoga X and subbing Plyometrics for the Kenpo.I(The Lean program does not include Plyometrics which just happens to be my FAVORITE workout in the whole series.)

So, I’ll be spending the rest of this week getting all of my junk food cravings out of my system, purging my house of Girl Scout Cookies, and shopping for clean eats for next week. I may go to Academy and get a power tower for doing the pull ups since my house does not have a proper doorway for my pull up bar. I’ll have to see what they have and how much they cost but I’ve always wanted one so I could use my TRX in my workout room.

I figure I’ve sat around on my butt long enough and swimsuit season is quickly approaching. I will NOT spend another summer in workout shorts and tank tops in the pool. I want to wear a REAL bathing suit this year. PLUS, I kind of have to do this before my jaw surgery. Everything I have read points to the fact that if you are in great physical shape before the surgery you recover much more quickly.  I can’t think of any other way to get in great shape than to complete a round of P90X.

I’ve got a girlfriend on Facebook that is also doing the program with me and we are going to be accountability buddies which is something I did not have last go around. I think that checking in with each other daily will keep us both on track better.

So, 90 Days… I can do this. That will put me finishing sometime in May which will be just in time for my 14th wedding anniversary. What a great gift to the hubs.. ;-) (And to myself)

Also, I’m considering adding in the Couch to 5K running program. I have a treadmill so I can do all of my running indoors and it’s only 3 days a week. Since I’m not interested really in doing the whole running thing for the races and stuff I’ll strictly be using it for the health benefits AND the serious calorie burn. However, if at any time it starts to interfere with  my P90X it will be reduced.

I’ll keep you guys up to date as to how it goes! I’m pretty excited!! (Let’s see how long that lasts.. ;-) )

 

And Then Frustration Sets In..(*VENT*)

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I am convinced that when a person is in constant pain it greatly affects their energy levels. I have felt utterly wiped out for the past two days. There has been little I could do to make my mouth more comfortable, or relieve my pain. Even sleeping has been a challenge.

One of the assistants in my Orthodontist’s office told me before I got my top braces that the bottom braces were by far the worst and the top ones would be a piece of cake. She is a damn liar.

The level of discomfort I have had from getting the upper braces on has FAR surpassed even the pain I had after having 6 teeth pulled at one time. (4 wisdom teeth and two other ones.)

The upper inside part of my mouth is literally SHREDDED where the upper braces end in the back on my molars. Talking hurts, drinking hurts, doing any sort of movement with my mouth at all hurts.

I cannot for the life of me get the wax to stick back there to stop the metal from rubbing over the shredded area. I tried drying it with a piece of paper towel and then got paper stuck back there. :-/  I tried anbesol but it only works for a short period of time.

Today is day 3 since they went on and apparently my top molars have already shifted because my bite no longer  closes fully.  My top teeth do not fit with my bottom teeth anymore. I cannot fully close my mouth in a comfortable position without forcing my lower jaw off to one side.

My top lip is swollen from being shredded on the inside where the brackets are behind it.  Since my top lip is swollen I cannot close my mouth all the way and my lips have been super dry and in order to put lip balm on I have to drag it across my top lip which pushes it into the brackets that have shredded the underside of it.

All of it just sucks right now.

And I’m HUNGRY. I can’t really eat much right now because I can’t chew because my teeth hurt.  So I’ve had a cup of coffee, a smoothie, a banana, and a yogurt today.  That’s not a lot of food. The only other options in the house currently are mashed potatoes, and apple sauce, and neither of those sound appetizing at all.

Today is one of those days when I definitely am wondering what the heck I was thinking agreeing to go through with this whole process.

I know that in the end this will all be worth it, but it’s so hard for me to see that right now when I am SO MISERABLE.

Oh, and to top it all off,  I have PMS like a mother trucker, AND the cat peed on the clean pile of towels that was on the couch sometime last night which soaked through the towels ONTO the couch. I spent two hours with an enzyme cleaner soaking it and mopping it up, and I’m PRAYING I can get the smell out of the loveseat or it has to GO. I cannot STAND the odor of cat urine and even the slightest whiff of it is going to drive me NUTS.  I’m also praying I can get it out of the towels too.

Today is not a good day.  I totally don’t want ANYONE to see me like this. I have to go to a dance at the middle school tonight to supervise Aaron because I am the only one on the blue background check card that can be allowed into the school during functions. I don’t want him to miss the dance so I will have to get dressed and go and try to make the best of it.

I’m just so frustrated. I’m a tough girl, I can handle most anything. Except pain in my mouth. That is one thing that gets me every time. Mainly because it’s a pain you can’t escape from. No matter what I do it’s all I can think about. I can’t focus on my school work for NYIP, I can’t focus on TV, I can’t focus on ANYTHING at the moment except this miserable mess inside my mouth.

I sure hope this passes soon.  I seem to remember it taking about a week for me to get used to the lower braces and they were  not near as miserable as this is.

Ok, Vent over. I have to get back to my school work and laundry.

Peace out peeps! I’ll keep you updated!

<3 Cat

I Am Now Fully Braced!

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I got my top braces on yesterday morning.  I have 4 molar bands on top on my molars and a total of 9 teeth on the top that are braced. Since I have a bridge on the top that is porcelain and we are not moving those teeth at all I am really only braced on the sides on the top.

I do have two clear brackets on the top front two teeth in my bridge to keep the archwire in place across the front of my top teeth.

I was hoping that I would be able to smile and talk with my lips covering the braces on top but that is not the case. My top lip sits sort of right over the two front brackets and so when I talk and smile you most definitely CAN see the top braces.  They don’t look as bad as I thought they would so it’s not that huge of a deal.

My top lip feels a little swollen today and the upper braces are really tearing up the inside of my cheeks but I know it will pass. When I got the lower braces on 7 months ago it took about a week for my tissues in my mouth to toughen up to where I didn’t want to cry all the time.

Like I’ve always said, Pain is Progress when it comes to this whole process.

We are finished with the lower teeth now as far as moving them goes. I got my power chains taken off and now I have all of my lower brackets “shoelaced” with a thin wire. It’s meant to just hold the teeth where they are until after my surgery.

My orthodontist says that I will more than likely be ready for surgery this summer which is VERY exciting. I could conceivably be done with this whole process and debraced by CHRISTMAS if all goes well. WOO HOO! Of course even once I am debraced I still have a LOT of work left to do with implants, and bridgework.

Today my upper teeth are pretty sore, I’m still pretty limited to what I can eat, and that’s ok. My 100 percent focus right now is getting adjusted to this new metal in my mouth and forging ahead with treatment.

I go back in 6 weeks for an adjustment on the top and we’ll see how things are progressing at that point.

Have a great day everyone!

<3

Cat

Saturday Ramble..

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Now that all of the ice has melted away from the past four days of sub-freezing temperatures I am starting to feel more human. Yesterday I spent the day snuggled up with Bart watching TV in way too many layers of clothes just to stay warm. Southern girls should NEVER have to wear a jacket INSIDE the house. BRR!

Today I have spent the better part of the day getting caught up on household chores that have suffered from neglect for far too long. Dishes, and laundry are on the agenda today. Dishes are done, Laundry is in progress.

I am determined to finish ALL of the laundry today and get it put away so that tomorrow I can start working on my Office/Junk Room/Dumping Ground. Even if I wanted to get in there and use my desk I couldn’t because I can’t even SEE the top of my desk. I know there’s a printer under there somewhere. ;-)

After the office is finished being decluttered the only part of the house untouched is the hallway closet, which is full of Pampered Chef Stoneware that I NEVER use anymore. I am considering a huge ebay auction at the moment to offload that stuff. Then, there’s the double closet in Christian’s room that needs to be emptied and gone through. I am sure there are things in there I have not seen in about 10 years. That should be fun. (NOT)

My goal over the next two weeks is to get the rest of the house decluttered and organized. Then work out a plan to KEEP it that way. I’ve been reading this book called The Joy Of Less: A Minimalist Living Guide. Within the first week of starting the book I completely purged the master closet, master bedroom, and the living room and entry hall closet and Kitchen.  I cannot tell you how many dumpster loads of crap came out of this house. It was very freeing to see all of it go.

I have been a pack rat for most of my life. I think that people who are raised by parents who are poor are naturally pre-disposed to this disorder. Since you don’t have much growing up as soon as you can accumulate stuff, you do. At least that’s the way it was for me. I still remember when I was first able to buy my own clothes. I went NUTS. I am a total clothes hound even to this day. I cannot go into a Target without coming out with at least two outfits, a purse and a pair of shoes.  I’m working on that too this year.

Now that my master closet has been purged and my dresser I actually KNOW what all I have now as far as clothes goes. Couple that with the fact that I am not buying any more clothes for THIS body that I am in because I am in the process of making it much smaller. I made a deal that I could buy a new set of workout clothes for every 10 pounds lost. I am right around 18 pounds lost since Thanksgiving so I am about to earn my second set. WOO!  I currently only have 26 more pounds until I reach goal. I’m shooting for losing ALL of that and maybe more by May 29, 2011, which is my 14th wedding anniversary.

I am really looking forward to spring and summer because I have some clothes that are too small in my closet that will fit by then that are SUPER CUTE! I may even put my belly ring back in to celebrate the occasion when I hit goal.

2011 is definitely the year of getting rid of junk. Junk out of my house, and junk out of my trunk. ;-)

Well, I’m off to finish my chores. Hope everyone has an awesome Saturday!

<3Cat