Biceps, Fitness, Running, Shoulders, Treadmill

The Elusive Quest for Sleep

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For today’s 44 I used a resistance band and did a wide curl to a shoulder press.  I had to keep my feet fairly close together to complete all the reps on the overhead press portion!

Don’t mind the sweat – I had to do the demo after my workout since the boys are still in vacation mode!!!

I did my final run of  2013 this morning.  
1.5% incline – 5miles in 34:49 + 1 easy cool down mile

Screen Shot 2013-12-30 at 8.54.05 AMSleep  – Garfield makes it look so easy!!!

And, actually, you would think that something as natural and necessary as sleep would be easy!  However, in my world, there is nothing easy about sleep.

I’ve read hundreds of articles that give tips for better sleep and tried pretty much all of the tips.

  • daily exercise (YEP!!)
  • keep the room cool – I try!
  • follow a schedule – almost all the time
  • don’t eat late 
  • and on and on and on…..

The other day I even dragged Chris (and the boys – they loved it) into the Sleep Number store.Screen Shot 2013-12-30 at 9.01.09 AM

Lately my back aches most of the time so I thought maybe a Sleep Number bed would help and since I get hot at night and Chris doesn’t I looked at the new dual temp pad also.

Then we saw a price list!!!  Ummm….I don’t think a Sleep Number bed is the answer!

Chris keeps telling me to take Ambien but I would rather not (not sure why?!).

Lately, besides not being able to sleep, I spend most of the night feeling crummy – maybe because I’m tired and my body needs sleep?!  I don’t know what the deal is but I’m over it!!

Screen Shot 2013-12-30 at 9.07.50 AMWell, on a positive note – I do get quite a bit of reading done in the middle of the night!!

Chris is pretty much the opposite of me – he falls asleep within minutes and stays asleep all night long (what a novel idea!)!!  All the little noises and things that bug me are completely unknown to him!

 

Do you have sleep issues?  What have you found that helps you? 

Happy Monday!!!

Kim

 

 

BOSU, Core, Fitness, Plank

Favorite Traditions

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Today’s 44 was another plank variation – using my BOSU!!!  I flipped the BOSU over and did a plank with my toes on it.  Then I alternated stepping my feet off and back on.

ready
ready
right off
right off
back on
back on
left off
left off
one rep done
one rep done

My arms were shaking by the time I finished all 44 reps – between holding plank (2:10) and the balance challenge from using the BOSU upside down – this was tough!!!

I know that everyone develops their own traditions over the years – some are passed down from generation to generation and others are new.  I thought today I would share a few of our favorite Christmas traditions.

1.  Since we have trees in every room, we use the tree in our down-stairs living room to put presents under.

sometimes the presents go around more than under
sometimes the presents go around more than under

2.  We open presents on Christmas Eve and we always just do 1 at a time.  I like doing it this way because we can actually watch everyone opening their gifts and take time to really appreciate all of them!

Hunter's big gift this year was a keyboard!!
Hunter’s big gift this year was a keyboard!!

I might be as excited about this one as Hunter!!!  Maybe I can learn to play again, too!

Jordan is into all thing Medieval
Jordan is into all thing Medieval – like weapons!
just some random fun shots
just some random fun shots

Jordan with 3-D glasses – nice!!!  Funny, no pictures of me – I have the camera(s)!!!

3.  On Christmas Eve we use our raclette grill and have a fun contest!  We all cook shrimp, chicken and steak and vote on the winner in each category and the over-all.  It is fun to make different seasonings and marinades.

the set-up
the set-up

There are times that Hunter will put some of each seasoning in his mixture – fun times!!!

Jordan and Chris were the top winners this year.  I didn’t get a single vote!!

4.  On Christmas morning, we get to check our stockings!!  We always have stockings in our upstairs living room.  

pictures of everyone coming in
pictures of everyone coming in

This tradition has changed as the boys have gotten older.  Now they get dressed first (notice how Hunter went with red & green?!) and I’m wearing my sweaty running stuff because I had already gotten in almost 6 miles!  Still a fun tradition!!

5.  We always have Reindeer Bread for breakfast after stockings!

deliciousness!
deliciousness!

I think a lot of people call this Bubble Bread or Monkey Bread but in our family it is Reindeer Bread no matter what time of year we have it!

So, just a few of our favorite ways to enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

What are some of your favorite family traditions?

Happy Sunday!!

Kim

BOSU, Cardio, Fitness, Lunges

Games, Movies, Snacks and Plenty of Relaxing!!

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Today I used my BOSU for the 44 and did jumping lunges!  I counted a right and a left lunge as 1 rep.

Clearly my memory is slipping after several days of no routine because I sort-of forgot that I just did a lunge move yesterday!  Oh, well – they were totally different!

This past week has been full of fun – doing things that we don’t do very often!!!  

a view into our game closet
a view into our game closet

We have played games – all 4 of us!!!  We just got Logo Party  – 

Screen Shot 2013-12-28 at 9.08.43 AMthis week and we’ve already been through over half the cards!  We also tried –

Screen Shot 2013-12-28 at 9.10.27 AMThis game is fun but I think it will be more fun at our New Year’s Eve party with a group of adults!!!

The boys have actually had time to play the X-Box and have enjoyed that since they hardly played during the fall with school and other activities keeping them busy.

Chris and I have watched a few movies in the afternoon (so much better than night-time movies since I get tired at night!!).  

we rarely go to the theater!!
we rarely go to the theater!!

One day we watched The Way Way Back –

Screen Shot 2013-12-28 at 9.13.23 AMIt was really a cute movie!  It made me cry a little at the end but I enjoyed it.  (thanks for recommending it, Shashi!!)

And, to show you how far behind we are on movies, yesterday we watched – 

Screen Shot 2013-12-28 at 9.17.10 AMI liked this one much better than the 2nd one!!!  

I haven’t cooked since Tuesday when I did all of the prep work for our open house on Christmas Day – we have had left-overs and snacks!!!

DSCN0012

We have all enjoyed sleeping in (some more than others – Hunter and Jordan!!!). 

Over-all this past week has been the perfect mix of activity, get-togethers and plenty of down time so that we start the new year refreshed and ready to go again!!!

Happy Saturday  – I hope it is fun and relaxing in your world!!!

Kim

Butt, Cardio, Fitness, Lunges, Quad, Running, Treadmill

Standing Makes Me Happy!

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Today I decided to do a fast moving 44!  This was a good one for feeling a burn in my quads!!! I did a lunge with a floor touch.

This 44 went quickly!!  Of course, after I did 44 on one side, I had to switch and do another set of  44 to stay balanced!!!  

And – check out my shirt in the video – recognize the color?  

bright yellow!
bright yellow!

Hunter gave me this shirt so that when we run a half marathon together in the spring (he wants to do one to celebrate turning 13!!!) we can match!!!  So excited about it!

Today was another running day.  I wanted to go further so I slowed my pace from the past couple of runs!  I used 1.5% incline and did 10 miles in 80:15 + 1 easy cool down mile.  I started out much slower and increased the speed every half mile for a nice run!!!

Over the past year, I’ve found myself sitting a lot more than I want to.  And the reason is my computer and the time I spend blogging and doing other things on it.  

I knew that I wanted to make a change but I still wanted to be able to spend time on the computer so…..

this is what I wanted for Christmas
this is what I wanted for Christmas

I told Chris awhile back that I wanted a standing work station but not a big one because I wanted it to be  portable.  This one is perfect!!!  It is on wheels and very easy to move so I can have it in the kitchen, living room, dining room or wherever I want to be!!!

writing my blog (this was yesterday morning)
writing my blog (this was yesterday morning)

I love it since I always write my post for the day after I finish working out and I hate to just plunk myself in a chair – perfect solution!!!  Now when I’m being productive reading blogs I won’t feel like such a slug!!!

Have you ever tried a standing work station?  Do you prefer to stand or sit?
In the past I tried our kitchen table and the island – both were too low!!!  I feel much more productive when I stand, too!!!  (might be mental but….)

Happy Friday!!

Kim

Fitness, Foam Roller, Push-Ups

The Best Part of Christmas

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Today’s 44 was nearly a fail!!!  Not long ago I did push-ups using my foam roller for the 44 of the day.   The wonderful and super fit Jody suggested trying the same move but with my feet on a stability ball.  Well – I’m always up for a new way to challenge myself so today I tried it!

the set-up
the set-up

I could not even hold the pose with my toes on the ball so I just went with the tops of my feet and still struggled!!!

down
down

This move was beyond HARD!!!  I struggled and by the end my push-ups were barely  going down – I’m going to have to work on this move for sure!!!

My neighbor’s daughter (she is a few years younger than me!) is still in town and she came over to workout again this morning – so much fun!!  Today we did Cathe XTrain – Tabatacise!!!  This is definitely a great workout.  After we were done Erin asked about a challenge move (since we did the plank hold last time) so we did 10 Manmakers.

(This video clearly wasn’t today since I had blond hair!)

Yesterday we hosted our first annual Governor’s Row House Christmas Day Open House.

snacks
snacks

We had no idea if any one would come or if it would be just the 4 of us hanging out over there.

It turned out to be a really fun day.  Some great friends came and hung out most of the day!

kid's playing HeadBandz
kid’s playing HeadBandz
hanging out
hanging out

The boys (Chris, Jordan and Hunter) played trumpet and cello tunes for us!  Plenty of food (lunch and dinner!) and fun!!!

posing on the stairs to nowhere
posing on the stairs to nowhere

Last week I put fliers in our 3 tenants mail boxes and 2 of them came down for awhile (the 3rd, a young couple, had gone home to Chicago!).

Kelvin lives on the 3rd floor by himself (he is going to be 65 next month) and called me around 5 to see if we were still there.  He came down, brought Champagne to share (nice!), ate and visited until we started packing up around 8.

He had been by himself (other than his cat) all day and would have spent the entire day that way if he hadn’t joined us.  After a couple of hours he  said he felt like he had an adopted family!!  That comment made my day because all along, my whole goal had been to help make someone’s Christmas better than it might have been otherwise.  When he got ready to go back up to his apartment he hugged me and said it had turned into a wonderful Christmas for him!

And, the best part – on the way home Jordan rode with me (I had gone earlier to clean since we had an event Christmas Eve, too) and he talked about how glad he was that we had done the Open House!!!  This is big because when I first mentioned it to Jordan he did not want any part in it.  

After seeing how much it meant to Kelvin, he realized that sometimes taking the time to be available to someone is the best gift you can give.  (Plus he had a good time all day!!)

Happy Thursday!!!

Kim

Fitness – Food – Fun