WODs & Well-Being

January 27, 2017 Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going.  – Jim Rohn Funny when your worlds suddenly collide when you are least expecting it. I have used this quote as the header of my blog since the very first day it launched in 2011. I often stumbled across quotes from Jim Rohn when looking for motivation through the years of struggles with my health and fitness. I started blogging after I had hit what I felt was rock bottom, felt like I dragged my way through every day and began to understand that it was in my power to make a change. It was in no one else’s hands, it was no one else’s “fault but my own” and until I made a change, everything was going to remain the same. His words often propelled my writing, inspired me to blog about how I felt when I read them and made me really think about what it was/is that motivates me. What is it exactly that I am looking for? How am going to ultimately reach my goal? Can I make it past he road block...

January 18, 2017 Tonight after coming home from daycare and watching "a snowman," Mr Z actually said "no" to watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... which is a miracle in itself. It was too early for bed time and it was bath night, so I brought him up early to hop in the tub with his other favorites, Nemo and Dory. After we ran around and chased each other all over my second floor while the tub filled up, he took a long (and bubble filled) tub. Its really one of my favorite times of the day. I take him out of the bath, we giggle while I kiss his little feets and tell them they are "my feet." He is all warm and snuggly and smells like Johnson Bubble Stuff... his eyelashes are still a little damp and hes sleepy in his eyes after a fun energy filled day. We lay together in his bed (the twin bed in his room), he makes sure he is positioned just right in the bed with his head on his pillow as tight to my side as he can be... legs crossed (always) and we read boo...

January 17, 2017 When it rains... it pours... Definition: Misfortunes or difficult situations tend to follow each other in rapid succession or to arrive all at the same time. Yeah, that sounds about right... it sums up the last 5 days of my life. Its funny how things seem to happen that way. It really feels like a common occurrence for me. Its the reason why I have such a hard time looking a the "bright" side and being optimistic. I am constantly looking for the giant bomb that is going to drop on me... then burst into flames... the sink into the ocean... then get eaten by a whale... I hate that I am that way. I hate that once things start to spiral, I feel like I cant get out of my own way then suddenly there are now 5,000 things "wrong." Certainly makes me feel like throwing in the towel and hiding in my bed with a bag of chewy sprees crying my eyes out. In reality. I would never, could never, do those things... rather, I stand tall and face whatever it i...

January 11, 2017 I love this. I love the feeling that I get right before I do something that "scares" me. The uncomfortable jostle of my stomach. The feeling of my heart beating a little faster. The hair standing up on my neck and arms. That moment when I close my eyes, take a deep breath and then approach whatever it is I have to do. The uncertainty. Its refreshing to me. It reminds me that life is for living and shouldn't be boring and predictable. That not everything comes easy. Reward takes risk, with risk, you get reward. Kind of amazing. As we get older we sort of land somewhere in the world of "everyday life." We do the things we do the way we do them... because that is how we have always done them. I fold my clothes a certain way because I worked in retail for a lot of years and it just comes natural to do it that way. I do my laundry a certain way, because that is how I was taught, might not be the same way you were taught... but in the end its ...

January 10, 2017 Geepers, I found myself at the end of last year suddenly accidentally dating things 2015... and this morning I typed 2018. Slow down time... haha! I am certainly not ready for it to be 2018, we just got 2017 off and running. I stopped blogging way back when, because I felt like everything I needed to say, I had already said. I didnt want to repeat myself, be a broken record or bore anyone (not that I really know if people read this anyway). Over time, I would see something and think, "I could write about that." However, I didnt have the time or the mindset to get back into blogging. Now, today, I saw something and it hit me. I needed to write about it and if its a repeat, youve heard it from me before... or whatever... I am sorry. Though Id be impressed if there is someone out there (aside from my mom <--- HI MOM) who reads my posts every day. So, here we go. I saw this this morning. It hit me. It hit me right in a place I needed to be hit. Ove...

January 9, 2017 My son Z. He amazes me every single day. The way that he looks at things, the way he smiles at things, the way he tries to figure out how things work or why they are doing whatever they are doing… He is constantly learning. Every day new words and phrases like “have a good weekend” and “mommy wake up” come pouring out like they have been trapped in there waiting for the perfect moment to make us laugh. There were days where I thought he would never roll over or crawl… and now he is a running, jumping, climbing machine! I have absolutely loved every single moment of these last 22 months as “Z’s Mama” and wouldn’t change it for the world. One year ago today, my 10 month old started swim lessons. We signed up for a parent/infant class and had no idea what to expect. My goal is to assure that he is safe around a body of water, as I 150% feel that all kids should know how to swim at least enough to stay safe in the case of an emergency. I do not want him afraid of t...

January 6, 2017 Everything going to be alright.  I am a worrier. I worry about all sorts of things. Rational things, irrational things... you name it. I realize that it adds stress to my life that is often unnecessary, as worrying is really a waste of energy. Things in life are going to happen. They are going to happen exactly as they are, whether I worry about them or not. I feel like sometimes, my anxiety is heightened by life experiences. Most of the time, things dont happen to me "gently." Good or bad. So, in my brain, I just think the worst sometimes... and feel like if something is going to happen, its going to be traumatic. Im all for "got big or go home" but not in that sense. Psychologically, I have the worse case scenario playing in my head pretty quickly, then my anxiety skyrockets and I am off the charts. Good times... I understand people dont want to be around me when this happens.  I am trying to work on this. I am trying to rationalize my t...

January 5, 2017 One of the articles I was reading in regards to "minimizing" things in your home, talked about starting at the bottom and working up. If you clean your basement first, when you clean out the kitchen, a closet or a bedroom upstairs, you arent going to want to dump the pile of things you arent sure of into your basement, it will be way to clean and organized for that. You will have to make a choice what to do with the items at the exact moment you pick them up. "Do I want this?" "Do I need this?" "Where can I store this?" I really like this thought process and I am certainly going to use it in my quest to minimize my belongings. I am however in a time crunch to get everything out of my basement so the process might be driven by the fact that I am going to pay for a storage unit until I have a place to put things. Pretty sure thats the only way this is going to happen, as it is going to take a while to dig through it all. Maybe i...

January 4, 2017 Am I doing it right? I think I ask myself this question like 3,000 times a week. Since becoming a mother, this number has tripled. I mean having a toddler who is just starting to be able to verbalize what it is that he wants… and sometimes having a melt down because frankly, he cant live off of apple sauce and fruit snacks (at least I think he cant...) is not really helping the matter. I remember a conversation I had with someone very important in my life about 16 years ago… He said to me “Sarah, you have your life all planned out. You can see your white picket fence…” He was right. At that time… at a mere 20 years old… I thought I could see it. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted and thought I knew exactly how I was going to get there. The point (I think) he was trying to make to me was that I needed to just let things happen. That there are going to be many obstacles, failures, changes both good and bad, that may derail that “vision.” I struggled with ...

January 3, 2017 This morning kind of felt like a breath of fresh air. I have been off work for 11 days. Usually upon returning from a vacation I am exhausted and ready for a nap... but today, things felt different. Like I set a refresh button. I didnt sleep any more than usual while I was off yet somehow I feel more energy than I was feeling before taking a little time off. It was a mental break. It was stress free and I let my routine go for a while. I absolutely LOVED having my Mom and Dad at my house for the whole time I was off. I was up as early as I am every day either at the gym or with Z. I was busy every day with friends coming to visit or playing in Z's new tunnel or with his new cars... I was completely exhausted at the end of every night when Z went to sleep and my parents went back to the hotel... I was the happiest person on the planet with those that I love so very much. Today, back to the routine. See, I am a routine kind of girl. Pretty sure thats where my gu...

January 2, 2017 Apparently, I am not the only person who decided that 2017 was going to be a cleansing year. It appeared, as I went to Target to get some tupperware containers... that this is a common thing. There were LOTS of people buying tupperware... and... bonus... they were on sale! I started my endeavor today to clean up my basement. I know this is not going to be an easy task. In fact, its very hard for me in a lot of ways. Let me start by showing you the embarrassment that is my basement... There is a little bit of EVERYTHING down there... from booze (lots of wine) to pictures I have taken off the walls, to golf clubs, baby items of all sorts, a bike, my dollhouse my Papa made me when I was a kid, many items from my parents house that lived in the attic, my pull up bar and rings... outside toys we have had to take downstairs for the winter... and of course, my nemesis... the EMPTY box. Why do I save these things... Some of these boxes are going to be a p...

January 1, 2017 Hi, its me again. Geeze, its been quite a long time since Ive blogged. Life came first. In the months that have passed we have experienced so many "firsts," so many good times, lots of laughs... a few vacations... and most of all, made so many memories. All of which I hold so deep in my heart... time flying by quickly and my squishy newborn baby is now almost 2 years old. He has celebrated his second of every holiday except Valentines day... he talks up a storm... counts to 10... sings songs... and gives the very best hugs and kisses. From the moment I laid eyes on him, I just couldn't imagine my life without him.I have seen lots of posts about how bad 2016 was... I had a great year and I am not going to be sorry for that. I am going to jump on the "New Year" band wagon and talk about what my plans/goals are for 2017. Though, I dont feel like it necessarily needs to be a new year, a new month or even a Monday to set or start or set a goal, th...