Hobbies

As previously expressed, my life is getting monotinous and boring. Therefore, I have decided that it is time to find some new hobbies (or, as I said on Facebook, my new hobby is to find a new hobby).

I already really enjoy cooking, so I will expand on that I think. Maybe cook fancier on the weekends when I have more time to put into it. I am already a reader as well, but I have a hard time counting reading as a hobby. That is something that, really, everyone should be doing and it doesn't take any special skill or anything. That said, I need to take on more of that (although not too long ago I went through three books in one week, so....). I also already play disc golf but I am REALLY bad at it and I usually leave frustrated and with low self-esteem, and that really is NOT what hobbies are all about.

I need to sit and think about some things I wouldn't mind having as a hobby. I want to learn to sew/knit/crochet. I could stand to learn at least a little bit of a different language. I definitely want to do this more (blogging - I used to be an avid journal writer and I really miss it!!). My goal is to come up with a decent list of things I'd like to incorporate into my life and then just do it. Try it out for awhile and see how I like it.

Stay tuned!

Why have I become such a slacker??

Look at that - it has been since October that I have bothered to do any blogging. Lazy? Maybe. But mostly I think I really have that little to say about anything. Isn't that sad? My life has become so routine that I have nothing exciting to write about anymore.

How does one go about changing that? It is easy to SAY things like "if you want to do something, you have to just do it or you never will do it," but really, it isn't logical or even doable most of the time. Then you just feel bad when people give you that kind of advice. Most of the time I shrug that off because many of the people who say things like that to me don't follow up on anything they say they are going to do anyway (which makes the advice even more frustrating).

Anyway, I'm looking for some excitement and change. Things have been realllyyyyyy monotinous lately. Wake up, get ready for work, make our lunches, ride the bus, go to work, do crossword puzzles on my lunch hour, ride the bus back home, (sometimes go grocery shopping), make dinner, spend the rest of the evening on the couch with Jacob, watching TV. BOR-ING.

Me thinks it's time to shake things up a bit. Let's see what I can do. I think anything would make a difference at this point.

Clearly, I have no follow-through.

Exercise today: run/wall 3.2 miles, helped parents pack up/load up their POD.

I wasn't even going to run today because I was going to be helping my parents load up their pod all day and I think that counts as a good work out. But I went anyway, and if felt satisfyingly easy (not super easy, but I was able to run my whole length that I usually have trouble with, without feeling an ounce of need to slow down and walk). It is nice to feel real progress in your strength and stamina!

Transformation

I am constantly getting frustrated by people not following through on their plans. Friends and family alike, so many of them say they are going to do something and the never do it! Something I have always prided myself on is the ability to follow through. But today I had the realization that there is one big area in my life where I constantly say I am going to do something and then ALWAYS fail within a few weeks. (which makes me a hypocrite. Which I hate.)

Weight loss. A constant battle for most women today. I understand the pressure put on us by main stream media and all that, but mostly it is a health issue. Well, that and the clothes get cuter the thinner you get. It's a rotten, sneaky scheme by clothing designers but an ingenious one at that....what a good way to entice women to lose the weight! I'm sure the designers hearts are not so pure that turning around the fat fad was their plan, but I'll take it. Now if they could just lower their prices a little so I could afford most of them....

Anyway, So here I am. Nearing 28 1/2 years old. I am 5'6". I weighed myself today on our doctor's scale and I am back up to 164 pounds!!! I couldn't believe it!! (to back track slightly, I topped out about 3 years ago at 180 and then via Weight Watchers and exercise, got down to my lowest of 151 and could never break that. Then I lost my job and couldn't afford the monthly Weight Watchers Online fee of $16.00 {I know, it's not a lot, but it was an automatic response to the loss in pay to cut out any unnecessary bills} and I got out of my normal routine, thus gaining 16 pounds quickly.). Gaining the 16 pounds is unacceptable to me. It was really hard work getting the weight off initially, so I am not going to sit back and let it all come back to me just like that.

So since this blog is still fairly new to me, I am going to change things around a bit. I am going to use it as an accountability tool for me (and maybe an inspirational one for whomever might come across it. But to be honest, in this whole big blogging world it is easy to remain obscure). I am going to track my exercise and food habits. I refuse to call this a diet because a diet always implies that it is temporary. If anyone is to lose the weight and keep it off, it must be an entire lifestyle overhaul.

So three big things I must work on:

1. Cutting back on calories. For the most part, I don't really overdo it too much. But I will ruin a whole weeks' worth of good eating habits in one Friday Night Dinner Group get together (which we have every Friday and the food is rarely healthy).

2. Upping the exercise. While I have the mornings free from having a job, I MUST use this time to get my exercise in. I began this again last week and have been tracking my progress on Facebook using iRan. I'll definitely put my mileage on here as well

3. Cutting back on the adult beverages. Yep. I'm a drinker. I think all of these empty calories have made more of an impact on my weight gain than I realize. Any time we get together with friends (several times a week), there is alcohol involved. I'd say I have a drink 6 out of 7 days of the week. This needs to be cut back to three or four out of 7 days. I suppose I should track that on here as well - the better to keep me accountable.

My hope is that my writing about this daily on a public forum, I will actually stick with this and make my body what it should be. My goal weight range is 135 - 145. I should always be in this range and never higher. So I have about 20 pounds of weight to lose to get to the top of this range.

Stay tuned. More to come. :)

Isn't it strange when someone iconic or famous dies? Even if we didn't know the deceased personally, it still effects us and we still try almost obsessively to gather all of the information we possibly can. It is such a strange phenomenon.

I am just as guilty as the rest of 'em for getting sucked in...and it's nearly impossible not to! Every radio station I listened to (including NPR) spent the majority of their day talking about the life and times of Michael Jackson and his music and the legacy he left behind. Every Internet page you visit has a tribute or a timeline or updates. Every newspapaer has his face on the cover.

And I've had his songs stuck in my head since I heard the news.

After I heard about the death of Michael Jackson (and I felt like such an insider, knowing about it before most of the people with whom I am aquainted - which possibly means I have too much time on my hands), I suddenly was stricken with the realization of how much I really do enjoy his music. It was never something I sought out while he was alive and I, like the general masses, kind of thought of him as a strange, perverted person who's fame got the best of him. But the instant I heard of his passing, no thoughts of his questionable past even entered my mind. No "good riddance" or anything like that. It was more about how sad it is that nothing new will ever come into the world from this massively talented human being. And I am glad that the media coverage of the whole thing has been mostly focused on his revolutionary ways in the music industry and the legacy he leaves behind than his checkered past.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson. Your music will keep on keepin' on, because the people love what you were capable of!!

Appreciating a sunny day would make for a less hateful world.

I just read a headline on Yahoo! that was talking about North Korea and how America had better watch out because they can wipe us right off the map. At first I just dismissed it, but then I saw the headline again and it started to seep in a little.

Does North Korea really have the means to do this? And if they DO have the means, do they really have so little good in their hearts that they would do it? Could they really, in good conscienceness just obliterate an entire country? Do they have even a remotely good reason to even be considering these actions? (I'm guessing no...).

I wish every country would just learn to mind their own business (America being at the top of the list!) and let everyone work out their own problems without putting all of the innocent civilians in harm's way. People need to learn to let others just live and be and believe what they want without hurting other people. Why, oh why, is this so hard? I do this every single day without even noticing!

It's just a handful of really hateful, spiteful people that are going to ruin the world. How is that possible? I really believe there are more good people out there than bad people, so why are we - the good ones - so seemingly powerless?

I bet hateful people never notice a sunny day.