Tag Archives: sunshine

Cardio, Fitness, Lunges, Plyo, Push-Ups, Quad

Sunday Deserves Some Sunshine

January 5, 2014 Kim 49 Comments

Today’s 44 took one of my favorite moves (burpees) and added in one of my least favorite (jumping lunges) for a great challenge!!!

The move – a burpee (don’t forget he push-up!) jump up and immediately do 2 lunge jumps.

(FYI – the burpees in the demo actually make # 45, 46 & 47!)

Last night Hunter was trying to give me some more ideas for my 44s and he suggested a burpee with a tuck jump. I told him I did those this summer on the beach in Florida!!! He didn’t believe me so I had to find the video to prove it!!!

While we were looking at YouTube, we came across this video –

44 (must be fate!) of the best burpee exercises ever!!! I can’t wait to try more of these!!!

Mona @ Moxie-Dude was super sweet and nominated me for a sunshine award.

I decided that this bitterly cold and snowy Sunday would be the perfect day to share some sunshine!!!!

I know there are supposed to be rules to these things but I pretty much suck at following them!! I decided to start by answering Mona’s questions and then go from there.

1. If the internet suddenly disappeared and you couldn’t blog anymore, what would you choose as a “release” for your writing and creativity?
Well, I don’t know that I am super creative in my writing anyway – I would probably just spend the extra time on my treadmill!!!

2. What’s a perfect Saturday morning to you?
I would say it is a day that I sleep in but that doesn’t really happen. I do like the mornings when I don’t have to set an alarm and jump out of bed first thing. I would take my time getting up, do my workout, have Chris and both boys home and not have to spend the day running all over the place or doing any errands – in other words LAZY!!

3. Where do you see yourself and your blog in 3 years from now?
I will be 47 so I guess if I can stick with it that long, I will be doing daily 47s!!! As for blogging, I hope to have met in person some of the incredible people that I have met online!!!

4. Is your family supportive of your blogging?
Yes, they are 100% supportive. Chris reads my post every single day (and usually texts me after to make a comment of some sort so I know he read it). The boys don’t seem to mind being part of my blog on many occasions and are more than willing to help me out with pictures/videos!!

5. What’s you fav quick, easy and delicious dinner recipe? (this one made me laugh – if you haven’t read Mona’s blog, you really should check it out!!!)
My favorite easy meal is going to involve the crock-pot for sure!!! Hard to pick just one! I’m going to go with French Dip because it is so easy!!!

Put a frozen roast in the crock pot. Mix 2 c water, 1/2 c soy sauce (we use low-sodium), a bay leaf, some garlic powder, a few peppercorns, rosemary & thyme (just sprinkle some in). Cook on low all day. Shred. Serve on Kaiser rolls with swiss cheese and use the juice to dip.

6. Where is your favorite place to write?
This could read where is your favorite place to ___________? No matter what is in the blank, my answer is the same!!! THE BEACH!!!

7. If you had to start your blog all over, what changes would you make?
I think that I would have started commenting on other blogs sooner. I was a complete newbie in the blog world and didn’t have a clue what I was doing for months!!!

What would you keep?
This one is easy – I would keep all of the bloggy friends I have made because they (y’all) are the best part of blogging!!

8. Vacation…with or without kids?
With!! When the boys were younger I liked it when Chris and I could get away by ourselves. Now, the boys are fun to have on vacation and that is part of the experience. I’m hoping that even when they leave the nest they will still take vacations with us and one day that their spouses and kids will come, too!!

9. What’s your best advice for overcoming writer’s block?
Since I’m not really a writer, I don’t truly deal with this!!! I just make up some random stuff and move on!

And, like I said at the beginning – I’m not good at these the traditional way. So I’m not making up 9 or 10 or 12 new questions and tag people – I can’t tag people because I think it supposed to be just a few and I would want to tag at least 100 people!!!

Instead – I will make up one question.

How do you spread sunshine? What is the temperature where you are?

So I lied and asked 2 questions!!! We are actually at 10 degrees with about 4-5 inches of snow so I guess I can’t complain (but I will!) compared to all y’all even further north!

Happy Sunday!!

Kim

Butt, Fitness, Hamstrings, Squats

Life Isn’t Always Sunshine but I Love it Anyway

July 28, 2013 Kim 43 Comments

Today’s 43 was one that I’ve never tried but need to do more often. It was a front wall squat. I need lots more practice because I can’t go down very far without toppling over.

Start with your toes against the wall –

(you can barely see me – the bright light worked against the picture but too late now!!)

Slide down into a squat keeping your knees and hands against (or near) the wall –

You can tell from the picture (barely) that I couldn’t even get down to 90 degrees – so a good 43 but one that definitely needs work! I liked the fact that performing this type of squat added in a balance challenge!

And, because we actually slept in a little, I decided to keep my workout inside because the humidity is killing me when I run here. I did Turbo Fire – Sculpt 30. This was a great workout today since I haven’t gotten much strength work this week!! You use the Turbo Fire band

for a full body strength workout!!

For the past week, it has been easy to love life – because we’ve been at the beach (2 more days!!!)! And, I’m pretty sure that by now it is a well established fact that the beach is my true HAPPY PLACE!!!

However, in my “real life” back home in Kansas, life isn’t always sunny!! There are days that look a lot like this –

And, some days are just kind of drippy!However, I can finally say that no matter what the weather and other circumstances that come along – I LOVE MY LIFE!!!

That hasn’t always been the case! In high school, I think I just existed. I loved running track and I enjoyed school but the rest of it was just something to be survived.

College was 4 years of fun even though I worked hard to maintain a track and academic scholarship and then added in a job my senior year. But, I still wasn’t completely at peace with myself.

I spent a number of years trying to find happiness through other people instead of looking for it inside of myself.

I thought that the people I surrounded myself and hung out with controlled my happiness.

I even struggled when we had kids – I thought that being a Mom should make me happy all the time – that kids meant sunshine 100% of the time!!!

So, it has taken 43 years to finally get to the point where I am completely content during the sunny times and the not so sunny times.

And, as long as I know that there is always time at the beach to look forward to, my life is full of sunshine!!

Do you love your life in all types of weather or just during the sunny/happy times?

Happy Sunday!!

Kim

Core, Fitness

Real Life Feelings and Emotions

May 7, 2013 Kim 39 Comments

Today’s 43 was another one for my core. I did a V-sit crunch.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGZsdypMM_M’]

I feel like the past 2 weeks my abs have really been neglected!! This was a good 43 – my legs (hip flexors mainly) were tired by the time I completed all 43.

I’m going to vent (meaning I’m going to rant and let out all of my frustrations) about yesterday and then I’m going to ~~try to~~ move on!

Yesterday morning I called my DR (again). My right calf is still very swollen, hard and painful and my left ankle has joined in on the fun! Since the doctor had assured me (every single time I asked her) that I would be running by now (almost 2 weeks after surgery) and I can barely walk I need some answers!

When the nurse called back I said:

She was super nice and assured me that I wasn’t a being a pain and that I was right to call. They wanted to see me but I would have to see a different DR (mine was unavailable). The DR I met also does the same type surgeries.

So, when the DR came in the room and looked at my legs he said – well, yep.

He then proceeded to explain that vein stripping used to be comparable to medieval torture devices.

He went into considerable detail about how it used to be with removing the vein and the bleeding involved – blah, blah, blah (I’m going to spare you the gorey details!).

But, thanks to modern technology, the technique has become much improved – MOST OF THE TIME!

Even with the newer method of vein stripping (removal of greater saphenous vein – in left leg), ligation (veins tied off ) and phlebectomy (removal of superficial veins through small slit-like incisions in skin – reason I have little cuts all over my legs) some people still have the same recovery problems that the older surgery caused.

By recovery problems he was referring to the massive amounts of bruising, swelling and hard lump-like spots in my legs. (and pain)

He went on to say that this only happens a very small percent of the time – and that it hadn’t happened to any of his patients to date.

All well and good but – How come no one told me that before I had this done???

Of course, I asked exactly what that means in terms of recovery time – he said it could be as long as 6 weeks of keeping my legs elevated as much as possible and just minimal walking around to keep the blood flowing!

Remember, I asked my DR numerous times on both of the visits I had with her before surgery – How long will I have to take off running? Every time she said probably about a week. Not once did she think to mention that – Oh, by the way, occasionally (rarely) people have complications and it can be up to 6 weeks!!!

So, I had to cancel the sub-jobs that I had for this week and resign myself to a few more weeks of relatively little activity.

There might have been a few tearsand maybe a few curse words (not at the doctor’s office!)and there was definitely a margarita to drink!!

Would I have done the surgery if I knew there was a chance (however slim) that the recovery could be very long and painful instead of just the week that I was expecting? I don’t know but I feel like I should have been informed so that if when it happened I would be prepared – both physically and mentally.

So now I’m going to suck it up and do what I have to do from this point on to heal. I know that whining and complaining isn’t going to help anything but I had to get it all off my chest!!!

I know that in the big picture, this is nothing. It could be so much worse.

So, I’m going to enjoy the sunshine – my big outing for the day is to cover 1st grade recess so that the teacher’s can have a longer lunch and well-deserved break for Teacher Appreciation – and stop complaining!

Happy Tuesday!!!

Kim

Cardio, Fitness, Quad

Welcome Back Sunshine!!!

April 19, 2013 Kim 20 Comments

I’ve been singing this song in my head the past few days – guess it worked!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOomEMSxC0′]

Today’s 43 was fun and quick!! I did a plie jump. Start in plie – jump up, touching heels together – back down to plie. Even just 10 of these will set your quads on fire!!! 43 will really have them singing!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW8t2p_7g5s’]

I did a new (to me) DVD today – Cross Training for Fitness. (This is a Gaiam workout.) Jessica Smith and Guillermo Gomez lead the 5 different sections. The entire workout is made up of 5 15 minute sections: Cardio Kickbox, Strength & Flexibility, Lower Body Balance, Core Power & Flow and Relax & Restore.

The Cardio Kickbox and Lower Body Balance both had lots of kicking and knee strikes. They were fairly quick paced and got my heart rate up some. The Strength & Flexibility section was great – body weight moves to really work on strength. I loved the mixture of standing and floor work in the Core Power & Flow section. I almost didn’t do the Relax & Restore segment but I’m glad I did – it was very calming!

I loved the variety in this workout. Also, I learned a couple of new moves that I’m sure I can turn into 43s in the future!!!

I’m so happy to see the sun again. It was warm in TX (close to 90) but I spent most of my time inside (hospital) so I didn’t get to fully enjoy the warmth. It has been rainy, cloudy, dreary and COLD since I got back to Kansas Monday night.

But today…..