Rewards For Hard Work

Friday, January 21, 2011

Everyday we work hard to meet our goals, or in some cases maintain our goals. As you've probably read on threads and blogs maintaining is not an easy task. So with that said how many of you have set rewards for yourself when you are in maintenance? Do you have a reward for maintaining your goal weight for 90 days, 180 day, 270 days? What? NO! Why not, rewards are just as important after you get where you want to be as they are while you're getting there.

I don't talk much about my rewards but I thought I would share. I've been in maintenance mode for a little over a year and I felt a reward was long over due. I really need a black dress, you know one that goes everywhere, they sure are hard to find when you're picky. I finally found one but there was another one I liked equally, so I decided to order them both. It seems to be unanimous with friends and family to keep both, so that's what I'm going to do. I also want to let you in on a secret, I don't usually do red, but I decided to step about 150 miles out of my box when I bought this.

Here are my rewards to myself for all my hard work, now I just have to find the right Gala to attend.









What have you given yourself lately for doing such a fabulous job?

Have a great weekend, you deserve it!

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Holy Moly January Half Gone

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

This is unbelievable! It's the 18th of January. I'm telling you all some one has sped up the clock!

Things are going good here. The website is up and running and I've had several orders, now just to get several more. If you want to know more about it email me here at Spark and I will discuss it with you. I'm not supposed to advertise and I don't want to overstep the boundaries tooooo far.

If you recall I've been working on a stained glass panel that was commissioned by my good friend Tufffybird. It is complete and ready to go. I've already sent her pictures privately, so I know she won't care if I post them here for all to see.

My weight and fitness program have been fluctuating a lot. Some days I'm really gung ho about getting the steps and strength training in, eating correctly and all that goes with it, and then other days my mood is WTF, I'm doing what I want. Now my weight fluctuation is just a couple pounds up then back down, so I know I'm not doing anything too bad, but my attitude as of late hasn't been the best about all this. I know it's a passing thing, but I really need to get my gung ho back. Big sigh, maybe tomorrow! LOL!!

I hope you all are happy with the way your program is going and if not, heck change it. Nothing is set in stone! Go out on a limb and try something new! You never know you might like it!

OK, I've held you in suspense long enough here are the pictures. I suppose I should name it. How about " Spring's Promise"? I like that. Tuffy your art work now has a name.

Springs Promise

These are before I attached the hanger.





These are after the hanger.



There you go. I need to hit the easy chair and relax.

Y'all have a great evening.

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Merry Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

This Christmas is almost a memory, I hope you made some exceptional ones this year.

Here is how we spent the morning. This year it was just Joshua, me, and of course the dogs. The rest of the family were being scrooges and not getting out of bed. Enjoy the pictures.

Tree before it lost it's presents.


Joshua didn't tell me to get ready.


Mr. PJ Boy!


Is there something in here for us?


Envelopes with my name on them are sooooo nice!


We did get something!


This is the glass piece I've been working on. It's ready to foil which means it's almost done!


With all my heart I hope Santa brought you everything that was important and you have the most wonderful Christmas ever!

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Nature's Way

Monday, December 06, 2010

Oh, my where do I begin? I know my blogs are few and far between but I seem to run out of time before I get everything done, so some things just have to not get done.

Things are going well, I'm done with Christmas, but I'm one of those that does it all way before time. I did not do much decorating so I won't have a lot of clean up, yippy! I'm planning on being very busy with the skin care products after the holidays and I didn't want to spend a lot of time packing things away.

Thought I would share a couple things with you. The first is the water feature. I didn't realize it was going to be so cold the other day so I left it running. The size it is and the pump say you are not supposed to run in freezing weather. You can tell for yourselves I did not follow the directions. I have since unplugged and gotten it ready for it's winter's nap.




Of course Sassy had to help.


The other share is a couple of music pieces I did for some close friends. Because of the size I had to post them on Youtube. I just hope no professionals have looked at them. I will tell you there are mistakes and I was supposed to have a page turner but he was never around when I was ready. With the one I did, my fingers would not warm up and they kept slipping off the keys, but I went ahead and posted anyway. I had promised these a long time ago and wanted to get that fulfilled mistakes, cold fingers and all. Listen or don't your choice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rXheuUtw
-A


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZBeRHxwb
KA

Well, I best go to work. You all have a fantastic Monday!

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Finished With WOW

Sunday, November 14, 2010

As most of you know I started a new program called WOW. It is an 8 week program of interval walking and strength training with resistance bands. It is an easy and very doable program. If you think you know everything about walking, read this book, you might learn something new. I know I did.

First let me say, "I did not follow the program 100%." I know, bad girl. The reason; there were days that circumstances would not allow due to time constraints or just life issues getting in the way. One thing I want to say, if this happens to you and what ever program you are on, so be it! $hit happens, move on, just don't let it be an excuse to quit! Now you know I'm not perfect, no matter what I think of myself!

There is another reason not to worry if you don't get a 100. I was still successful, and you can be too. I'll never know just how much more successful, if I had been able to give 100% to the program, but bottom line I'm good with the results.

I did not take before program pictures or after. I had already met my original goal weight and wanted to just help myself out a little. You know like buying a little more life insurance, it never hurts. I know, you want to know the results.

Starting numbers that Spark tracks:
weight - 148
waist - 26"
hips - 37"
thigh - 19"
upper arm - 11"
I do bust/chest - 36"

Ending numbers:
weight - 144
waist - 25.5"
hips - 36"
thigh - 17"
upper arm - 10.5"
bust/chest - 36"

I really think if you are just beginning your weight loss journey this is an excellent program. It's low impact and very easy to do. I know that no matter what I did in the beginning I had much more dramatic results and that is usually the way of any program.

Maintenance is a very volatile part of any program. I don't know how many pounds, according to the scale, I have re-lost in these 8 weeks. Since I've been in maintenance I don't weigh every week so I was so surprised at the extreme fluctuations. In fact they were so bad, if I was a beginner, I would have been crying more than smiling. The only reason I wasn't is because I know this happens, it is a fact of life. I now judge what is going on with me by the way my clothes fit. During this time nothing every got "too tight" so I knew the weight was not added fat. Also if the scale went up drastically I weighed for several days in a row, usually the next day it was down in some instances the amount it went up. That is why you never totally judge your success by the scale number. Case in point, me, I only lost 4 pounds in 2 months, but look at the inches, big difference.

So if you are looking for something new, I recommend the WOW program. It is put out by Prevention. I am going to continue using it and I might even get around to trying some of the recipes.

I hope this isn't a big secret, but if it is sorry girls! Msweezer and I are heading out for another adventure. This coming March around St. Patty's day we are going to meet up with Jennnva in Virginia Beach, VA and do 1/2 marathon with her! Yep, we didn't learn our lesson in Idaho. The three of us are already so excited about getting together again, every time we mention it, we start doing a crazy little happy dance. We will be expecting tons of support from you all, so get ready to put on your cheer leading outfits!

This is working out perfect for me because it's spring break here so my helper won't have any problems taking care of the kids alone. What I mean by that is he won't have to worry about getting any one to school and stuff like that. Joshua is going to make this trip as well, because I'm making it an educational one. I will be taking him to Washington DC so he can experience our country's great history first hand.

My friends that's all the news I have for now, but stay tuned I'm sure there will be more as the days progress!

I should get up and get moving. You all have a good one!

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