Week 12 Day 5

I woke up not feeling so great this morning. I’ve been stressed all night about the meeting, and how I know I’m probably not going to agree with some of the consequences determined. However, when I got to school, it was announced that the meeting will be Monday instead of today due to conflicting schedules, and so I was put at ease for a moment.

My students have been asking me for quite awhile to go to gym class with them. They know I workout and live actively, so gym class only makes sense to them. And after this week’s events, I decided today would be a good day.

It was a fun gym class. I had brought my gym bag so that I was able to change. The students were able to postpone their 12 minute run since I was there, but of course, the gym teacher also knows that I like to workout, and so he made us do burpees in a football players form. I’m not sure if there’s a name for it, but it basically was the wider-spread legs almost vibrating/running in place thing that football players do, and then when he blew the whistle, it was dropping down into push-up stance and back up. Oh boy. Guess I was getting in a workout early today! Then we played a type of basketball. It was a ton of fun. I wish I had more time to join them more often. But it is my only prep time during the day, and so I’ll make my best effort to go at least once every two months if I can. The secretary pulled me aside and told me how excited the kids were on their way to gym that their teacher was coming to gym class, so I know that it made a lot of difference to them. And if that’s what it takes to let them know I care, then that’s what it takes.

The rest of the day went alright, although I hit a huge wave of tiredness early in the afternoon. I think the stress wore me out. So I did something I never do. I told the students that if we got all of our afternoon work done quickly, I’d take them outside for an extra recess. Let’s just say, their work got done quickly! And we were able to get some fresh air. I think we all needed it. Today was an awesome day.

Since I didn’t have my meeting, I was able to go home early. My husband and I relaxed a little, talked about a few important things, and decided to have a date night. We went to a new place that we’ve never gone before: a place by the name of Teriyaki Corner. I ordered a Canadian sushi (with cream cheese, cucumber and smoked salmon) and an egg maki (I forget the official name of it). Oh it was so good!!! Yum! I’m in love with sushi again!

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the gym tonight. But that’s ok. I’ve been so stressed, and so not into my workouts lately that my body could use a day of true rest and hopefully I’ll be mentally back in the game tomorrow.

Week 10 Day 7

Well, today did not go exactly as planned. I woke up to my husband vomiting in the bathroom. This occurred several times throughout the morning. I’m going to estimate 10-20 times. He literally had nothing left in his stomach, the poor man.

So I spent most of my day cleaning my house, doing laundry, catching up on some things in life. My husband seemed to be better after lunch, at least not vomiting anymore. He was still very weak and tired and couldn’t handle much of anything in his stomach. He also quite frequently felt like he couldn’t breathe which is by far the scariest part. He battled a headache and fever for most of the day, and his body actually turned red like he had been sunburned! It was seriously the craziest thing I had ever seen!

As the night went on, he seemed to progressively get better. I missed my workout again today, but my car is still not running and I needed to be home anyways to make sure my husband was actually breathing. I checked on him quite frequently as I was very worried about him.

I’m looking forward to hopefully getting in two workouts tomorrow, and hopefully waking up to a much healthier husband.

Week 10 Day 5

This morning, I absolutely did not want to get out of bed. I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe it’s the dread I have for parent-teacher interviews this evening. No matter what, I always get nervous. But either way, they must be done!

The work day was short, and even further shortened by the fact we had our Student Association speeches and elections today. It went very well, and I believe the students selected very good representatives for our school.

After the students left, instead of going out to lunch with my colleagues, I stayed at the school to prepare. Preparing for parent-teacher interviews is not easy. You have to re-read your comments, review the student’s work, select examples of student work to show, etc. I also like to have pen and paper ready to go in order to write down notes of what we talk about and suggestions that were made.

When it finally came time for parent-teacher interviews to start, I felt better but as always, like I couldn’t be prepared enough. Either way, the 13 interviews I had scheduled all in a row began. I was surprised how well the parents accepted some hard information, and how willing they were to work as a team on their students. As any teacher reading this will know, it’s a very relieving feeling to know that you can work as a team with parents and that you can support each other for the betterment of the students; something I appreciate so much!

It was a long evening, and I didn’t end up leaving the school until after 8:00 pm. I also hadn’t eaten much as I didn’t have any breaks since 2:00 pm when the meetings started. When I came home and ate, the carbs hit my system and I started fighting to stay awake. I didn’t want to take naps anymore as they always seem to make me feel worse instead of better. But when I’m sitting and trying to talk to my husband, yet my eyes keep shutting on me, I know I might even fall asleep on the 2 minute drive to the gym, and who knows if I might fall asleep at the gym? It hasn’t happened before, but it may.

So, we took a nap. But when the alarm went off, my husband looked at me and said he was too tired to get up. I can’t drive his truck and my car is still not running. So unfortunately, this meant no workout. But on the other hand, I got extra sleep. I will be playing catch-up with my workouts, but I can do that. My husband’s health is equally as important as mine and so I wasn’t going to argue, though I felt like it. I know love is not just said, but must be shown, and I’m not always good at that part. But tonight, my husband slept and I will definitely catch-up in the gym when he’s awake and ready to go!

Week 10 Day 4

I woke up this morning so tired. I don’t know if I’m not sleeping at night or what is going on. But as far as I’m concerned, I’m sleeping but not waking up rested. Can’t say it hasn’t happened before, just wish it wouldn’t happen anymore.

Today work went well, though it was very busy. I was making the final changes to our tutoring program’s schedule. And everything seemed to be ready to go, until tutoring actually started after school. Between the tutors who did not show up, and the tutees who had not registered but their parents had simply told them to come and showed up, I was rearranging groups left and right.

To my utmost surprise, the tutors did so incredibly well. I couldn’t believe it. I was so proud of how they took whomever I gave them, some had researched things ahead of time, and did such an amazing job tutoring these other kids. It was mind-blowing! I really think the tutoring program brought out the best in the students.

One student in particular, that regularly gets in fights with other students and causes a whole series of issues almost daily, was supposed to be tutoring with a second tutor since this is part of the three week probation period. The tutor he was supposed to be with did not show up and I had put them with three grade 3 students. I was honestly a bit nervous. But out of all the tutors that had their tutoring topics ahead of time, he’s the only one that had researched educational videos to help the kids not only with math, but spelling as well. And the best part was, they loved him and were interested in what he was doing the whole time. I just was completely blown away.

I didn’t leave work until approximately 7:30 pm. By then, my husband wanted food quickly so we went out to eat. I have been mainly eating fruits and veggies as carbs throughout the day, and so when we ate this higher carb supper, tiredness swept over me quickly. And so we went home, and my husband told me to take a nap. What time did we go to the gym? 12:30 a.m.

I was tired, had to drink a coffee, but my workout went rather well. I still don’t like mountain climbers, and likely never will. But it was mainly a shoulder and triceps workout and despite the circumstances, it went well. I even managed to fit in my 12 minutes of HIIT. I was a happy camper!

We then went home, ate, and I think finally went to bed around 4:00 a.m. Let’s just say tomorrow is going to be a long day!

Week 6 Day 3

Today’s worship carried a substantially difficult topic. I looked at our Spirit Week and today was Jersey Day. Side note: I wore a Broncos jersey! Go Broncos! But as I was trying to come up with a topic that would associate with Jersey Day, something to do with teams, I quickly realized that the most immediate topic was that of teamwork. The only problem is, I think our staff honestly works well as a team. So this topic was just not striking me properly.

I continued to think and think and think until it finally hit me: forgiveness. It connected in my brain when I thought of the pressure athletes have to win. How often do we get mad at them when they make a mistake, when they miss the winning goal, when they play horribly? How often do they likely get yelled at and ridiculed for mistakes that we may as equally make in our own lives? And with mistakes often comes the act of forgiveness.

Now, this was a touchy topic to talk about. Because the act of forgiveness is called upon us by God Himself. When asked how many times a person should forgive, Jesus said, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). Yet, how often do we not forgive people? How often are we hurt and then carry around that hurt the rest of our lives? I went over Bible verses about forgiveness, and over some expectations of forgiveness. Forgiveness means not using the event against the person (not holding a grudge). It means not gossiping about that event and person, as well as a few others. However, I was not satisfied with the way this worship ended because it was ended with the thought that forgiveness is still difficult even though the Bible gives us so many examples. And I was challenged by this to come up with how it was easy for myself to forgive others. And this is something I would think about constantly until the next morning.

Today’s workout was focussed on legs and abs. And as usual, leg workouts kill me everytime. I was so tired and worn out, not to mention in pain. I’ve noticed that our coach has dropped the reps down to 10 for almost all body parts, except legs. Our legs reps remain at 15. Oh does this ever push your legs. Ah! So glad when I finished.

Week 5 Day 5: The Revelation

Sorry guys. I realized I had made a mistake and quickly changed it! Yesterday was not the revelation day, today was and somehow I mixed up the names! Sorry about that. It’s now fixed 🙂

So every Thursday at work, instead of a normal worship, we have “Thankful Thursdays” where we go around saying the appreciations we’ve had. It’s a great thing to do, and one of the things I reflected on was my class this year. Not that they are perfect, not that they are always easy, but that I’ve seen maturity in them, even in the way they accept their consequences. I am so proud of them and look forward to helping them the rest of this year.

Following worship, we went about the usual day but I was so happy to welcome them into my classroom this morning. And when they went to gym, I sat and reflected on something that completely dawned on me: I’ve been happy, truly happy. I don’t know why, I don’t really know anything about it other than I felt completely and totally happy. Can I just say WOW? What a feeling! To be honestly happy. It’s amazing. I know my food and workouts have been going great, I’ve been taking care of all the medical issues, there have been major improvements, my husband is working and hopefully we’ll get his FBI check soon so he can have residency soon, I’m still in debt, but I’m happy. And that says something!

The day went well. We were planning a surprise wedding shower for our principal and it went amazing! We had a million laughs, and come to find out, this was their only shower, and she had never been successfully surprised before! We did awesome!

Now of course you’re probably wondering about my food choices while at this shower. So here is what I did. I ate half of one of my meals before I went. I then allowed myself a small selection on a small plate. I normally would have tried some of everything, but I limited myself. I was hungry for seconds, but I only allowed myself a plate of veggies. I did very well! Though in hind sight, I would have been alright white a lot of those things. They didn’t even seem worth it. Way too much sugar after being without refined sugars. I will know better next time.

We also had a staff meeting afterwards which of course meant that it was a late work night. But I still made it to the gym and had an awesome workout! Tonight was a circuit of shoulders, arms, chest and abs followed by 12 minutes of HIIT.

And of course, here are my meals for the day:

Meal 1

I had to cook this one a little more at home. I like my meat well done. This is a potato mash with egg whites, steak and a tomato.

Meal 2

I ate this one before I could get a picture last time. Homemade hummus with carrots, celery and rice crackers.

Meal 3

A tuna salad wrap with apples. Absolutely yummy!

Meal 4

So apparently I ate this one before a picture was taken. Sorry! It was cottage cheese with cinnamon and a very fine chop of honeydew and cantaloupe.

Meal 5

I didn’t take a picture of this one because you saw it yesterday. But since I don’t eat pork, the other option was to have the same chicken salad I had yesterday. I was so happy to eat it again. Yum!

Week 5 Day 2

What an awesome day today was! I woke up so happy and excited to go get my first load of Fresh Fit Foods. Today’s delivery was the 10 meals that will cover today and tomorrow. It’s so exciting to go pick up a bag with your name on it! I’m so excited!

Before I talk about the meals, I just want to update you on the workouts. Once again, today was still circuit training, but today was focused on back and legs. I felt so much stronger today which made me so happy. I also am starting to see the division line at the top of my abs. That makes me super happy! But a problem arose when I was doing supermans. I have this one rib muscle on my right side that pops out between my ribs sometimes. It hasn’t been aggravated in a long time, but today seemed to be a terrible day. I ended up getting my husband to help tie a flat-edged resistance band around my ribs to hold them together. I was able to finish the exercises requiring my abs this way. Definitely need to go make an appointment about this… I then finished my workout with 12 minutes of HIIT on the ArcTrainer. Definitely a solid workout!

So back to the meals… I decided to take pictures of the meals so you guys can share in my excitement. However, one didn’t make the camera… apparently I was too hungry to think of the picture until after it was gone. You’ll quickly see which one that is.

*Side note: My phone was dead, so I tried to position my laptop to take these pictures. Sorry for the bad quality. I’ll get better pics tomorrow!

Meal #1

Quinoa and Oatmeal with Cranberry Relish

Meal 2

Oatmeal Protein Muffin = Delicious!!

Meal 3
(Oops.. must have eaten this one too fast…)
Ranch Land Chili (beans, lean beef, rice, etc… with yams)

Meal 4

Apples, Celery and Almond Butter

Meal 5

Grilled Basa and Vegetables

These meals were so tasty, you could tell the products are completely wholesome and homemade, and they’re so convenient to grab out of the fridge and heat up. I’m so glad I’ve started this and look forward to the next 20 days! Off to bed for the first time in months ON TIME. Today has been a phenomenal day!

Week 4 Day 7

It was so nice to be able to sleep in today! Especially after the events in the middle of the night.

I have moved 20+ times. I’m more accustomed to living in small towns or out in the country. However, since moving to the large city and living in buildings where crimes were committed, I feel a little “less safe”. I am very thankful to have dogs for this reason. They are a first warning, a first defence for any strangers trying to break in to my house. And when my dogs bark at around 1:30 in the morning? You better believe I think something is going on. My husband was in such a deep sleep he was answering my questions, but not really being awake. So I had to go downstairs to see what was going on. The problem was, I didn’t see anything. So either someone had been outside (it was a weekend night, so quite easy for someone drunk to be walking around) or something.

Now, the problem is I like to watch shows like CSI or Murdoch Mysteries. So many scenarios started playing in my head and I totally freaked myself out. I couldn’t sleep. I watched the clock until after 4 in the morning, praying the whole time that we would be safe from everything. And it is surely by God’s good grace that I was able to fall asleep sometime after 4. I am so thankful for a God that is willing to protect me and give me peace, even over such things as my own made-up fears.

After I spent a long time sleeping in, I got up and ate, did some more cleaning, In the afternoon, I started getting ready for the big show that evening. I was going to the Muscle Beach Fall Classic and going to see Dennis Wolf! How exciting!

So when evening came, my husband and I got ready, and headed out. We spent a little bit of time going to few booths they had there: Cellucor, My Muscle Meals, Bio X, Mutant, Muscle Beach, Xaocai, and a couple others. I waited until intermission to purchase these new protein cookies hand made and produced at some protein cafe that I hadn’t heard of before. Man, they were good! And to think they were made with cottage cheese… Normally I can’t stand cottage cheese with anything sweet, but you couldn’t even tell it was in there. It was so good!

After intermission, I was so happy! It was time for Mr. Dennis Wolf to grace the stage! Ah! I cannot tell you my excitement! He is probably my favourite male bodybuilder. I love his attitude, his dedication, and just everything. And after watching him in the movie Generation Iron, then watching him online compete at Olympia and seeing his awesome attitude of dancing in the confetti blast on stage, and actually being able to see him in person and get my picture with him? It was amazing!

He posed to the first song completely on stage. They gave him a break, then he posed to a second song while walking up and down the middle aisles of our venue. My husband was second away from the aisle, and I was third. How massive he was in person! And then getting my picture with him; he’s just pure muscle. That man is huge. It was such a good night!

Following that, my husband and I stopped at Boston Pizza for a quick bite to eat. No, after being so motivated by all the competitors on stage and knowing that is my goal, to be on that stage, it was not the greatest choice of places. But I was still able to make a good choice by getting a salad with chicken. You just gotta learn how to make the best of every situation!

I’m looking forward to my workouts this week and pushing as hard as I can. My 21 days of meals from Fresh Fit Foods starts tomorrow, and I’m just pumped for making the best of every minute. Motivation levels are higher than ever, here I go!

Week 4 Day 5

Am I ever thankful I took a rest day yesterday! I still feel tired, but my body physically feels so much better than before.

Getting up for work still was not the easiest, but I had a pretty good day at work, and felt like I had so much more power for my workouts this evening.

The workout is still on a circuit style of training, covering most parts of the body. Pretty soon the program will be separating into separate body parts and eventually phase out of circuits.

RIght now, I’m feeling great!

Week 3 Day 7

This morning I made it to the gym! I hardly ever workout in the morning (I have to be at work at 7:30) so this was a treat!

I finished catching up on my workouts for the week (such a good feeling). I’m completely caught up! Yahoo!

I was so exhausted by the end though. My legs are KILLING me! That’s what you get for doing leg exercises three days in a row…

After working out, my husband and I decided to go shopping in the evening. This meant a ton of walking. Although I was sore, it actually felt good to get out and stretch.

We spent a few hours at the mall, and naturally we got hungry. So we opted for Jungle Jim’s. Fortunately, they have a “slim” menu that I was able to pick from. I had “slim” taquitos (baked, low fat cheese and chicken) with a jungle salad that consists of so many different vegetables. As a slight indulgence, we ordered some boneless wings and I had a few of those. As long as it fits my macros, I am ok with doing this once in awhile!

We ended the day well, had a lot of fun, and looked forward to rest that night. I can hardly believe it’s the end of week 3.