So, Those Goals

Do you remember my goals? I do. 

Lose weight.

RUN a 5K.

So I started the Couch to 5K. And everything was going really good. 

Well, with the exception that my knees and shins put up a fight. 

So I decided that I should try kinetic therapy (or KT) tape to help. 

I wasn't a large difference but it did help. 

The end of February and beginning of March brought on some new challenges. 

I got sick. Being sick and running = not happening. 

Financial situations also made it necessary that I obtain a job. 

By the way, I rocked that interview while still sick. 

And then we had a weird week of snow. 

Getting used to a work schedule made running difficult. 

And then wham! The Color Run was here!

While I didn't run the whole thing, I did several running spurts.  

Besides, I had Ivy (which I wasn't originally planning) and the whole point is to have fun at your own pace instead of a timed race. 

As far as the weight loss goes, I've lost 14 pounds so far. 

(As always, I run for my dear Survivor Aunt)

My body hurts so much. A lot of things are telling me no not torture myself over running a 5K. My knees are telling me to just not do it. Running/jogging/training has not eased the pain in my legs. I'm disappointed that I had setbacks and didn't do what I set out to do for my deadline. But I'm also not mentally torturing myself. I'm ok with not meeting my goal. I can just try again. 

Burning Questions

Shhh, I think she's still sleeping.

A lot of stuff happened within the past two months. Due to last year's fiasco, I was granted unemployment benefits. I also had my student loans placed on 'economic hardship' so I wasn't making payments. And while I did send out resumes and go on interviews, I was not offered any teaching positions. Fine by me. This allowed me to stay at home with Ivy. 

But benefits only last so long. And my loans went back into payments. At. The. Same. Damn. Time.
This made it necessary for me to find something, and find it fast. So I started looking around and sending out My Awesome Resume. I got a response that same day and an interview for the following day. That had to be the best interview ever. I was offered the job but there were phone calls on their end to be made before it was official. I started work two days later.

But then we had to find childcare. We ended up signing Ivy up for preschool which has been for the best. Because that picky little eater has been expanding her palate as well as her mind. It's amazing! She'll start kindergarten in the fall and I think she'll do great because of this experience.

Back to the work thing. I now work at a public library. Besides finding books and helping people with the computers, I've also done some storytimes and it's been pretty fun. And let me tell you about the stress level... wait, what stress level? I’m now in a line of work in which I am directly involved with the public. And I can say a great and many things about working with the public.

And now I present to you: Burning Questions that just MUST be answered
Alternate subject title: Troubleshooting the Stupid
Alternate subject title: Stuck on stupid

I had the opportunity to assist a lovely woman with an internet query.
“Why is it that every time I get on Google Maps here, it’s in San Jose, California?” considering we are situated half a continent away. So I started off firing questions to troubleshoot. 
“Do you have a home location associated with your personal Google account?” 
"No."
“Have you signed in to Google?” 
"No."
"Do you have a Google account?"  
"No. I don't think so."
So my clever response is that “It’s Google.”

“Well, that’s not an answer. Why is it that every time I get on Google Maps here, it’s in San Jose, California?”
“Let me clarify. If you have not given any details such as signing into your account and creating a home location on Google Maps to Google [for memory purposes], Google will assign a starting point.”

“You’re still not answering me. Why is it that every time I get on Google Maps here, it’s in San Jose, California? And this is on other computers too.”
At this point, my internal monologue is using some choice language.
“Ma’am, I guarantee you that if anyone else opens Google Maps without their log-in information, it will also take them to San Jose, California.”

“But why San Jose?”
Let me help you “Have you entered your desired address y-“ My hands pause in mid-air, mid-type.
“I KNOW HOW TO USE GOOGLE MAPS.”

“Ma’am, it’s Google. They’re likely using their location as a starting point of reference if there are no credentials.”
“Well, that’s still not—“
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, I cannot help you any further in this matter. I am not a Google employee and we have closing procedures to complete at this moment.” Bye Felicia. 

It was made abundantly clear that this was not pertinent to her internet query. She just had a burning question and, as my supervisor said, was “stuck on stupid.” I guess she also felt the need to try to make me feel stupid which didn't work. I decided to go back to my own computer and, well, ask Google - something that any rational human being can do.

Uh oh!

Our computers are automatically cleared of browsing data after every person logs out. They’re like Alzheimer patients. If there is no data to start with, Google is going to do... Google.

Snow Bunny

Last week's snow, ice, and slush melted and we reached 70 degrees. We picked Ivy up from her grandparents and we made snow ice cream, like I had promised her. I even made a snow angel in her stead.

(You already saw this one).

She started preschool this week because I got a new job at a library. I've yet to work a full week because of our, ahem, interesting weather. 

And wham! We get hit again!

But this time, she got to play in it herself!

(Tracks of another kind: wabbit)

And we were finally able to build our very first ever snowman!

We can finally check those off our life list.  

Snow Days

So this week has been punctuated with some strange weather. We have gotten ice and snow. And I got a new job and have already had to take two snow days. 

It's very sad that my little girl is out of town visiting with family. She would absolutely love to play in it all!

She and I FaceTimed earlier so she could see it. I also plopped a bowl outside to collect snow for ice cream. 

We also FaceTimed while the snow was falling and she asked me to make a snow angel. I can't say no to that. 

That Was [Arabican], Butthead*

This, you absolutely lovely folks, is my first ever coffee maker. 

I've been drinking coffee for a couple of years now so why the hell am I just now getting one of these things?

Well, in our house, some things are full-assed instead of half-assed. Meaning we buy whole beans, grind them, boil a kettle of water, and steep the beans in a French press. And while this is renders a tasty cup of joe, it is time consuming, noisy, and the very fine grounds make for a thick cup of mud. 

I'm a lazy beast and sometimes (a lot of times) I want coffee nowish. 

*There's a movie quote in these somewhere. 

I Effing Love Where I Live!

I have gotten into the history of the places I visit. Today's adventure was the Fort Worth Stockyards.

We have visited before but that was about eight years ago! And obviously, when there's that ridiculous of a time span between visits, you know there's going to be changes. Did you not read my earlier post? I guess I must not have because I so don't recall looking at a website beforehand. Damnit! I learned nothing! 

So we went, again, with nary a worry, again.

There are a few of these cool street signs hanging about. There really should also be horse signs too with the amount of cowboys riding their horses around. 

Fort Worth was a major stopping point way back when in the 1800s. The Stockyards were built as a trading post. And now, it's a major tourist hot spot with rodeos, a concert/dance hall, and a covered outdoor area where you can purchase a variety of cowboy chotchkies. 

There are a couple of photo ops as well. What life could be considered complete without an experience of plopping your sassy self on the back of a longhorn steer? Especially if you're a Texan. 

I wish the dude running this joint would've moved the steps. (Enter side-eyed emoticon here now.)

Website claimed the longhorn cattle drive was at eleven am. Nope. It was on some wall that the times were different. It was only later by a half hour so we sat and waited. 

Hey you horse's ass! Can't you read?? It says: "No parking stopping or standing"!

So this legendary cattle drive was announced by a front guy (I knew I should've taken a photo of the diagram!) singing the cattle to follow. 

This is a teeny representation of what the Chisolm Trail was. Hooray history!

There's the lead guy, some swing men (who keep the herd from veering left or right), and the tail end guys that push the herd forward. Nutshell. 

Texas has a b-ton of Hispanic influence - hell, we won our independence from Mexico. So a lot of architecture has this lovely Spanish mission theme with the red roof tiles and other decorations. Consider yourself learned. 

This is the Cowtown Coliseum where rodeos and livestock shows are held. I know this is a cutesy play on words out in cowboyville and whatnot but Fort Worth actually used to be called Cowtown. 

You're not a Texan until you own a cowboy hat. 

No adventurous tourist visit could ever be complete without some penny smashing. 

A smidge of history for you. I think I'm going to start "collecting" these things too. 

It was weird for me to see so many people on horseback on an urban street. There's this feel of the old west. I know several of these people are paid to give a little show (dress, whip cracking, cattle driving, photo ops) but I realized that there were more... Math takes me some time, bare with me... Because the street houses the building were they have, wait for it, rodeos and livestock shows. It makes sense. More side-eye emoticon usage here. 

While we were driving home, we saw some horses tied to posts outside of a convenience store. Us city folk aren't quite used to that. 

This obviously isn't what I was talking about but I hope you get the idea. 

Lamenting Working Out and Menu Plan Monday

I have already failed myself. I knew this shit would happen. Oh let me count the ways! I have eaten fa(s)t food. I have consumed sodas. I have veered from healthier menu options. And I haven't started any of the Tone It Up workouts.

However, my general eating habits have gotten better. I've mostly eaten whole grains (but I mistakenly bought a bread with HFCS in it wtf). I've mostly been drinking water. I've been incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables into my diet.

On workout days, my body betrays itself by waking up before the alarm and light sleeping. Oh, wait a second, I thought I said I wasn't working out. Oh wait, no I didn't! Shut up! I'm still following the Couch to 5K program! I still have my running buddies! I also try to walk a loop or two around the mall but I have a kid dragging her heels behind me.

I am anxiously awaiting the day that running will no longer hurt my body. Jogging just hurts my knees and hip. But the recovery time is a lot quicker than it was - already! Breathing is ridiculous. I need to train THAT part of the running too. Shitballs!

And then there is such wonderful support out there from businesses that don't give a shit about you. Who knew this even existed?!

Can't read it? It says: "Come into any participating store on Saturday January 17 and declare 'I'm ditching my New Year's resolution' and receive a FREE regular or large ice cream treat with the purchase of a regular or large ice cream treat!" Not only to they want you to get one, but TWO damned ice creams! Sorry, not sorry, but fuck that shit.

Why can we be supported? Offer us a low-fat yogurt! Encourage healthier portions! Give us motivation to stay the course and follow through on our goals! No! No, Marble Slab! You will not ruin my lifestyle change!

I also really like KIND snacks!

I take this here fancy schmancy granola and plop a handful of it atop a dollop of non-fat greek yogurt. Drizzle some honey and sprinkle on some flax seed and it's pretty tasty!
I also like the kind bars as a pre-jog snack breakfast thing.

Menu Plan
This week's menu has been
Steak fajitas with whole wheat tortillas!
Fajita nachos
Chili (with Fritos) for Frito Chili Pie
Chicken Parmesan
(More menus at OrgJunkie)

Crock Pot Chili Recipe

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef (I'll substitute with turkey next time)
24 ounces tomato sauce
1 tbsp tomato paste
¼ cup water (holy shit! I forgot to even add this!)
1 can black beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
⅛ tsp ground cayenne pepper
¼ tsp sugar
¼ tsp oregano
¼ tsp black pepper
½ tsp salt
¾ tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp chili powder

Instructions
In a medium skillet, cook ground beef over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain.
In a slow-cooker, combine cooked ground beef, tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, beans, cayenne pepper, sugar, oregano, pepper, salt, cumin, and chili powder {AKA: dump everything in!}. Mix thoroughly. Cook on medium heat for 4 hours.

Mistakes are Fun

You also learn from those bastards. Spontaneity also lends a hand to today's lesson. Screw what you knew before because those things change on you in a heartbeat. Or the further edge of a decade. Take your pick. 

I decided, because 'on a whim' is a perfectly acceptable reason, to take Ivy to the top of Reunion Tower in Dallas. So off we went with nary a worry. You see, I've been there before. In 2006 to be exact. 

We got to the hotel and I had to access the nether regions of my memory mush and get us to the elevator. But shit was different. Them there people decided to finally make a buck off of this here tourist attraction. 

There is now a FRONT DESK of all things where you have to buy TICKETS to ride an ELEVATOR to look out of a big-assed WINDOW. Yup. 

My comment to the lady was that it used to be free. Her response was that "... There have been renovations."

Damn straight. Everything was lit up like a hot-damned glow-in-the-dark 1990s discotheque. Not that I've ever been to one, mind you. 

I was unwilling to disappoint my girl, plus we were there. So I purchased our tickets and went about 6 feet to the next checkpoint. Security. Hm. Then the next checkpoint - a free digital photo. And then to another, you guessed it, checkpoint to wait on the elevator. 

We got on the elevator that apparently needed two people to press one button, but I'm known for over exaggerating so I could be wrong here. Maybe there were two buttons. Once we arrived at the "GeoDeck" we were greeted by another attendant. 

The main deck is obviously enclosed and there were, again, new features to the room: touch screen education panels, digital photo kiosk, a penny press machine, and a light wall feature (which reflected the lobby's neon discotheque theme). The outer deck was also still accessible. 

Instead of being forced to buy merchandise with your face on it, the kiosk offered a free digital download sent to your email. You could pick from one of about 6 backgrounds. 

I'm glad she was able to see over the railing. 

Technology is fun. This added a few more jobs to the lineup. 

My favorite part!

If you can't tell from this photo, the lights go full ROY G. BIV spectrum. 

And no trip would be complete without one. She learned a little American history (JFK anyone?) and some geography. Because, you know, there's always learning to be done. 

We had fun!

I feel it needs to be said here: We really did have fun that day. I'm only being sarcastic because of my lack of researching our outing and noticing all of the changes. It looks so much better now and is a much more interactive experience. I'm glad they updated everything and it's obvious that they created new jobs, which is always a plus!

Get Off Your Fat Ass

We got home Sunday, I started working out on Monday. 

I was inspired by ShayCarl. Oh god, enough with the youtubers already! But really, the guy is pretty... well... inspiring. He said he was going to make 2015 his year. So I'm stealing and running.

And I think I saw the following quote on Instagram. 

So... Taking into consideration that I'm knocking out things on my 40/40 list, I combined all this into one.

And I'm following Tone It Up, but I haven't done any of the workouts yet. However, I am getting walking and jogging in!

I called out to some local ladies for running buddies and had a positive response! Monday morning, one of the ladies showed up and we walked two laps around the neighborhood park. It was dark. It was cold. It was fun. 

Yesterday, we took the dog for a walk. 

This morning... It was still amazingly easy to get out of bed at 5:45. I woke myself up one minute before my alarm. I was dreaming about The Color Run. I dominated that bitch so hard that the after party hadn't even started yet. And we got rewarded with a huge assed box of chocolates.  

I grabbed a banana and ate it on the walk to the park. At 6am on the dot, I was still alone so I started. The thoughts that flew through my head were as follows: Go home. Fuck you, brain. I'm not doing this for other people. I'm doing this for ME. Get on it. Then I happened to look up and saw my running buddy pulling up so I met her and we did the first official couch to 5k workout. During each jogging session, I kept cheering myself on - sometimes audibly. You can do it! You got this! You can make it! And I did! But I accidentally deleted the workout! Way to go icy cold numb fingers!

I'm not going to lie. This is some difficult shit to do! My body is sore from walking... from WALKING. On top of it all, I'm still hungry. 

Shit. 

Fat Ass Update

I I weighed myself. 136 lbs. I weighed this just before Ivy's birth.
My 40 b4 40 goal is to get back to what I weighed before I got pregnant. 105 lbs.

Tone It Up calendar said to share the exercise experience. "Tell someone" or "invite someone". So I reached out on a local Facebook group. I was surprised to find that several ladies took me up on my offer!

This endeavor starts out tomorrow morning.
Can't let those ladies down!

It's important to add that it's a good idea to reward myself with something once I reach my goal. 

I want at least one dress from ModCloth. 

My back hurts, my knees hurt, I don't sleep comfortably, I snore (guh), and am not really happy. Exercise and eating better will help. So a lot of benefits to be had!

Reduce My Fat Ass

Alternate Title: Working on that Non-Resolution

No, it still isn't a resolution. It's an effing item goal on my effing 40 Before 40 list.

And now that I look at it again, I'm going to hope like hell I can knock off another item on that list by the end of March.

So let's put this all in a linear line for my thought processes to work.

I made the decision to work on the goal of getting down to my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm not very certain how realistic this is because 1. I feel like I'm already setting myself up for failure (at least I'm honest with myself?), and 2. I don't really believe it's about the numbers.

I am subscribed to a certain YouTuber and she mentioned she does Tone It Up - but for free. So I decided to look it up and I'm going to kill myself over all of this and follow their plans and routines and workouts and whatnot. I'm not purchasing their nutrition plan. This was a decision that was made back in November and I came to the conclusion that I would enjoy the rest of the holidays before I started this.

However... we aren't back at home and a "challenge" has started since yesterday and I'm only half participating. Their D-Day is V-Day and it's a six week challenge. I wasn't planning on getting really into it until we got home. I didn't want to buy food, and tennis shoes, and a sports bra, and haul it all home. So I'm still on vacation. I know I could start with SOMETHING but I just don't feel equipped or comfortable about it unless I'm at home to give it the official start I deserve.

I'm cleaning out the fridge and pantry.

I'm going to purchase "clean" foods.

I'm going to get my ass out of bed early and work out somehow.

I don't know how I'm going to do this.

I need to get my body running so I'm going to train myself for Couch to 5K while also following Tone It Up.

Because at the end of March, I want to scratch out "RUN a 5K."

DEADLINES!!!

I guess I should give myself a reward for completing some of my goals... So far, all I can think about is getting a cute dress or two from ModCloth.