Astros, Absenteeism (probably not a word) and a little bit of slacking.

So, I haven't written anything in about a week, really bad for me, and you, because this is likely to be a long post!

Since last week, we've been to an Astro's Game....Great seats, free parking, all courtesy of my aunt's fiance who got them from work and couldn't use them, so much fun!

 Beautiful Park!

 BEST SIGN EVER!!

My only excuse for my lack of posting, would be work. I seriously worked all but one day out of each of teh last three weeks.  I'm loving it though!  The job is going great, mostly great people, not bad hours, 5-6 hour shifts only between 9am and 7pm, and I've already been offered a lead sales position!!  Normally you have to be with the company for 6 months, well, I've only been there 2, so I have to test out of their "Management Aptitude" test to officially get the position, but it's been offered.  I take the test over the weekend and find out Monday, so I'm a bit anxious about that.  It would mean a 22% raise and an average of 30 hours instead of 20, which I wouldn't mind at all, and I'd still be able to have 2 evenings a week off to start booking lessons, if those ever show up.  It would be great, all around, so I'm hoping the test is pretty basic. I've been in management before, but in smaller companies without so many manuals (I wrote one company's!) and never had to take a test to get there.


Running wise, I got in 10 miles last week, barely, because of time issues.  I've discovered I just plain get bored running after about a half an hour, so it's really hard to run much more than 2 1/2 to 3 miles at a time.  Today was the first I ran this week, and I got in 2 miles before I got bored.  10 miles might be a stretch this week, especially since I don't really care to run before work on early mornings. Work usually involves heels and heels after running just doesn't work for me. I may have to start running in the afternoons/evenings next week, we'll see. I made my inches, so if I back off a little I'm just hoping they don't come back. I'm officially my wedding day measurements, so that's a huge deal for me!

Working at noon today, still need to put away 4 loads of laundry and figure out what to wear and what to eat, so I'm going to run. Miss you guys! I'm reading, even if I'm not posting or doing much commenting.

Prayers

Josh was a friend of my husband's in highschool.  They Bible quizzed against each other, spent summers atcamp up at the area where my in-laws cottage still is, and kept in touch through their mutual ministry contacts in college.  The first trip my husband and I took when we were first dating was to a Michael W Smith concert near where Josh lived and we spent the weekend with his family.

Sunday night Josh crashed a recently donated plane while testing it for the Steve Saint Ministry.  He had worked as an airplane mechanic and pilot for 3-4 years before joining the ministry, and apparently realized something was wrong just after taking off, but could not make it back to the runway safely.

Prayers for Josh's family would be appreciated.

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Weekend Workout Recap and some Food Related Ramblings

So, this thing has been my best friend this week it seems. 2 hours worth of running later, I'm proud to say I made my goal of 10 miles and then some! 10.4 miles to be exact!  On average, that makes for an 11.54 minute mile, though I know those numbers are off because my best run was 3.3 in 30 minutes.  I'm not necessarily worried about the speed, but I'm keep track for the sake of knowing my consistency. I'm thinking I may try to get out on the road in a couple of weeks and see what difference it makes.  5k's down here will not be happening for me during the summer months, which start in mid May, but come next fall, the idea is tempting.

Measurements wise, I'm already down to my goal in the hips thighs and butt areas, but my waist just doesn't want to come.  I kept with the crunches last week and actually went up, so the crunches have to go!  The middle of my abs are actually protruding further than before because of a little bit of definition, so, maybe on Monday I'll go figure out how to use one of the ab machines, if not, I may just have to run even more than the 12 planned miles, either that or eat less, and that's not high on my list!

I'm very much an "everything in moderation" kind of girl. I like my butter, bacon, red meat, bread, chocolate, and my theory is as long as nothing is in excess, it's okay. I'd rather eat smaller portions of natural, full fat foods than bigger portions of chemically altered to be lower in fat or sugar foods.  Just my logic, and what my body likes, as I've discovered Splenda and I just don't get along, I can't get sugar free things to sit well on my stomach, so real sugar it is! Raw sugar in my coffee, but standard granulated sugar for baking, mostly for budget reasons, they tend to make it difficult to buy healthy on a budget, so I just moderate how much we use.

Definitely the right fit!

Every other Wednesday evening, for about 2 hours, the ladies from our couples Sunday School class meet here to talk and fellowship-

That should have been my first sign that we'd found the right class. :)

Dinner with new friends

So, we've only been in Houston 2 months now, and we're finally getting to entertain some friends! I'm so excited!  I've been menu planning all week, even before I invited anyone, and now it's finally the big day!

We've got these-

and that amazing pink fruit dip I still have to mix up, as appetizers.

Amber's bringing a salad.














For the main course we're having-

 Barbeque Chicken and Macaroni and Cheese








Followed by this-

for dessert-Boston Creme Cake!

And I made a few of these

to keep on hand for if we visit or play games long enough that anyone gets hungry again. :)

Weekly Workout Recap

I so need to post more often!!!

So, it's been a week, and my workout recap is-

7.4 Miles
250 crunches (I got called in to work one morning)
30 reps each arm (can't find my free weights, think I may not have packed them somewhere I have access to, so missed my first two days looking for them)

Not bad for only the second week of a workout routine.

I'm realizing an inch everywhere wouldn't be a good thing, (I can't afford to lose any on my top half if you know what I mean) but right now, I'm down-
1/2" each thigh
1/2" hips/butt area
1/4" waist

The goal is 1" thighs, hips and butt, 1 1/2" waist.

So, I need some more waist whittling exercises! Tips, advice and links appreciated!

Weekend Recap, also known as "Rambling"

So not sure what all happened this week.  It was kind of a blur.  We're trying to really hard to pay off all of our bills, but more keep appearing out of no where, hours are not great this week for my husband, or at least not very good tips for the hours he works.  He's working as a caddy at a high end country club, and a typical tip is anywhere from $60-$200 dollars per round of golf. Lately, he keeps getting the $60 and $80 tippers, part of him having to earn his place as the new guy, so it kind of stinks.  He is getting asked to do more loops (rounds of golf) and caddy for more special events, which is good, but the veteran guys keep taking all the good loops. One switched with him yesterday, and instead of caddying for five members (guaranteed $100) he got stuck with two guys, who tipped him $50. So, he was in a pretty miserable mood. Pray for encouragement for him right now.  He's kind of feeling inadequate and I'm probably not helping much because I'm really stressed about the money stuff and he sees that and feels like it's his fault.  He's earning decent money, but it's not always consistent, plus, his first bag fees paycheck just paid for his uniform and equipment, so he hasn't brought home a real check yet, so he's hating that.  I keep getting more and more hours at work, which is wonderful, my job just doesn't pay nearly what I made teaching. Finding students would be a huge help about now!

On a plus side, I'm getting in shape again!  I'm discovering I was behind alot more than I thought, so I'm really having to work back into my running.  I did 3 1/2 miles last week, 5 this week, I'm shooting for 7 next week, 10 the week after, 12 the week after that, and then plan on leveling off at around 15 miles a week, split into 3-5 runs depending on my schedule at work.  I used to run 15 miles a week, 3 miles a day, 5 days a week from the time I was 16 to 20, but then work got in the way, so, now I'm trying to get back into it.  After I run, for every mile I run I do 50 crunches.  I need to get new free weights for at home (mine got left in NY) for adding in 10 reps each arm per mile as well, either that, or use the ones at the gym.  Ideally, all this working out will shave an inch off everywhere.  I don't want to drop an entire size, (it's hard to find my little sizes sometimes anyway!) and I'm not worried about the pounds, I expect to actually go up in that area, I just want to tone everything so my clothes fit a bit looser.  I still fit in the same size I did when I got married, some things are just snugger than I'd like them to be and I'm border line going up a size, so I'd like to be on the small end of my size again and stay that way.

I'm planning to log my miles, crunches, and arm reps weekly, I just need to find some form of ticker so I can post it on here, either that, or I'll just do a weekly workout recap on Saturdays.

So, this weeks log-

Miles- 5
Crunches- 250
Arm Reps- 0 (need to figure out a system for weights)

We have a wedding to go to June 19th, so I'm shooting for a June 1st of being down an inch all the way around.

I'd post my measurements, but I think that's a bit personal, so I'll just post when I lose 1/2 inches.

I guess that's it for now, back to laundry, then the grocery store, then maybe some tanning before work this afternoon.